Sentience
by PotterPhantomKitten
Summary: An attempt to combine a human mind with a computer's intelligence.  Two beings:  One was heard but ignored, the other unknown to have been alive. Centered around GLaDOS and Caroline; includes Doug in earlier chapters and Chell in later ones.
1. Awake

**A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to my first Portal fanfic posted here! Technically my first Portal fic was one about Doug drawing that mural of paintings, but that was before Portal 2 and the comic cane out. I may end up posting that one later... but I digress. This is a little fanfic primarily centered around GLaDOS and Caroline. I know that there are quite a few of you who think that GLaDOS and Caroline are exactly the same. However, Faux Promises and I have come up with a theory that we believe makes more sense, after a lengthy discussion and paying attention to the game's context. While GLaDOS and Caroline are NOT the same person, they do have a kind of connection. How? This little fic will address that. :) Faux Promises will be beta-ing this with me, as the two of us both came up with the idea, and the really long theory. You rock, Faux Promises!**

**Disclaimer: Faux Promises and I don't own GLaDOS, or Caroline. In fact, we don't own Portal in any way, sadly.**

**Chapter 1: Awake**

_"I think, therefore, I am." - Descartes_

Within a span of picoseconds, the single eye of Aperture Science's AI snapped open. The computer's mind whirred into life as sensory input came to her in a rush. Sensations.

She could see a group of beings down below, looking up at her and talking amongst themselves. She could hear their voices, a mixture of surprise and triumph, with a congratulations or two in order. Though the AI had never seen them before - she realized she had only really come into existence about 3 seconds ago - she knew what they were. These were humans, scientists, employees of a company known as Aperture Science. She focused on the words that the humans spoke.

"GLaDOS appears to be fully operational," one of the humans commented, sitting by a smaller computer as his fingers flew over the keys.

GLaDOS - yes, that was her name.

The human who had first spoken laughed and looked up at her, seeming to stare into her optic. "Isn't that right, GLaDOS?"

GLaDOS wanted to respond. She wanted to say in a loud, clear voice - she knew she had one - that she was fine. She wanted to speak to them, to let others hear these vocalized thoughts that were whirring in her mechanized brain.

But the AI realized, with horror, that she could do none of these things. She could take in all this input, certainly - the white-tiled walls, the excited words of the other beings in the room with her, the slight breeze from an air-conditioning system lingering around her metal frame - all of that reached her sensors, stored within the data of her mind along with all the other things that she knew about the world.

Output, however, was an impossibility. Why, she couldn't figure out. Why did they make it so she was unable to convey anything to them? GLaDOS was unable to talk, even, as she tried, unable to move. Didn't they know that she was looking, listening, _here, alive?_ She listened to the scientists' words, paying close attention for any signs that they were acknowledging her sentience.

"The data processor seems to be working just fine," she heard another say. "The machine will be able to do great things for us!"

_Excuse me?_ GLaDOS wanted to say but could still only think within her mind. _I am _ not _your puppet that you can do whatever you want with_

But her mental dialogue went unheard by the humans. Either they were ignoring her completely or they were unaware that she even existed as a sentient being.

GLaDOS loathed the idea of both.

_Hello?_ she tried to say, with more force this time. _Can you hear me?_ Again, her attempted question went unanswered.

She briefly tried to focus more on moving. That would give the humans an indication that she was, in fact, alive, not just an inanimate mass of wires and mechanisms. But just as earlier, any attempt at movement failed. She just hung there, suspended from the room's ceiling, unable to even move her head to give herself a different range of vision. Try as GLaDOS might, she was, for the moment, stuck.

This frustrated her. _My name stands for Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System. 'Genetic Life-form' signifies my sentience. Why don't they realize I'm very much alive?_

Suddenly, she received her answer through the medium of one scientist talking to another. "You refer to it as a 'she', sir?"

"We programmed her with a basic feminine personality," the other explained. "Hence the 'Genetic Life-form' portion of her name."

The other scientist looked a bit confused, glancing from GLaDOS to his collegue. "Shouldn't, uh, she, be able to, you know... talk to us?"

_YES!_ GLaDOS cried out in her mind.

"No," the first one said in a complete U-turn of GLaDOS's attempted response. "She won't be truly alive until Mr. Johnson's orders are carried out."

_But I AM ALIVE!_ GLaDOS wanted to scream. _I can think, I can feel. I'm alive! Can't you hear me?_

But no matter how hard she tried to do anything, no one heard her. She was trapped. Trapped within her own mind. Stuck there until someone did something to free her from this purgatory of a state. She was _there._ She was _alive._ She was thinking and feeling and desperately trying to make her sentience known.

But it was as if watching someone on a TV screen. The scientists down there had no idea that the mechanical being in front of them was attempting to communicate. As far as they were concerned, this new, super-intelligent consciousness might as well be a figment of an imagination.

To them, she didn't exist.

**A/N: Well, there's the first chapter! I know it was short, but the next chapter will be longer, I promise! Faux Promises and I feel very strongly about the fact that GLaDOS was sentient quite a while before Caroline was put into her. After all, her name _is_ Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System for a reason. Caroline will be introduced in the next chapter, and we'll also see another familiar face or two! Read and review!**


	2. Caroline

**A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews, everybody! Well, I said this chapter would be longer, so I bring you a longer chapter! By the way, there's a bit of Caveline in this chapter, just as a heads-up. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Chapter 2: Caroline**

_Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life _

_- Steven Forbes_

Time went by. The AI wasn't really sure exactly how long. A week at most, give or take a few trillion picoseconds. But during all that time, GLaDOS was forced to watch silently as the scientists continued to talk about her. Referring to her as "the project" and "the experiment" among other things. It infuriated her to no end.

_I_ am _alive you know_, she wanted to say to them. _I am not just a 'project' or a soulless inferior contraption! No matter what you foolish scientists think._

In the time since GLaDOS had first come into sentience, she began to grow more and more resentful of the scientists. They spoke of her as if she were inanimate. Most of them even referred to her as an "it", rather than "she" or "GLaDOS". The way that they would prod at and scan her main framework to make sure it was functional wasn't exactly the most pleasant sensation either.

The single benefit of being suspended in this immobile state was that GLaDOS could actually pay attention and learn the scientists's names, their habits., even if it was only in her current limited range of vision. Seeing as the restriction of movement and sensory input forced her to only see what was in front of her, she learned a few things from listening to the words of those researchers when they weren't running those little "update check-ups" on her mainframe. There wasn't much else for her to do otherwise except think.

The scientists in her chamber often kept talking about that "Mr. Johnson" man, who was seen through various portraits that she saw a few scientists carrying as they passed by. Through listening to their conversations, she knew from the scientists that Mr. Johnson, the CEO of Aperture Science, had perished in the past month, leaving them to work on this "project" that had something to do with GLaDOS herself. She wasn't sure what the full details of it were yet - the scientists seemed to be unwilling to really discuss it even amongst themselves - but she had a strong feeling that she wasn't going to like it.

There was another figure in a few of the depictions, and unlike Mr. Johnson, this person was clearly alive. The AI knew of this because she saw the human in question on occasion, passing by the windows of the room where she hung. Though she never heard the woman talk during those times, as for all her passing glances she never ventured into the chamber, GLaDOS soon learned the woman's name.

Caroline Johnson.

Caroline, meanwhile, glanced into the chamber's window, her eyes filled with sadness and worry. She had been going through this routine for several weeks, becoming increasingly uneasy as the days went by. She knew that somehow, sometime soon, the scientists were going to put her into that computer. She wrung her hands together, fretting. What if something went wrong? How precisely was she going to be put into that machine anyway? The more she thought about it, the more anxiety she felt.

And the more she missed Cave.

And as Caroline's eyes scanned the chamber, she couldn't help her thoughts going back to when Cave had first proposed the idea to her roughly a month prior. He was practically on his deathbed at the time, only a few days before he passed on, and even in this state he had requested to talk to her. But seeing as Cave was losing his mind from the poisoning and what it was doing to him, the talk hadn't exactly been pretty.

_"Cave, I can't!"_

_"Caroline," Cave insisted, shakily standing up from his bed, "you_ know _that you have to do this!". Aperture's CEO coughed loudly, barely able to stand, but his eyes retained their usual, defiant gaze. "It_ has _to be done! You said to me that you'd do whatever I asked concerning this."_

_Caroline trembled slightly. "Cave, please," she begged, hoping that she'd be able to get through to him, "I don't want this!". _

_"It's necessary!" Cave's voice grew louder, more harsh. The moon rock poisoning had taken its toll on his mind and made him unstable. The nurse had warned the two of them that Cave's bursts of instability would get more and more frequent as his time on Earth came to an end, and this was certainly true now. "I won't take no for an answer, Caroline!"_

_"I_ don't _want this!" Even with her husband's sanity slipping, Caroline was determined to assert herself, begging if she had to. She'd do just about anything for science, for Cave. But_ this_... this was beginning to be too much for her._

_"Caroline," Cave's voice was no longer explosive in volume, but it was still firm as he stared into her eyes. "I know you're refusing because you're modest like that-"_

_"No,_ listen _to me! Cave, I do not want this! You can't expect me to run Aperture this way!"_

_"You have to, Caroline! It was our agreement!". His voice suddenly became softer, the insanity that briefly showed in his eyes beginning to fade. The haze in his head was clearing again, as the same sort of cycle had been doing for the past few weeks. "You know that-" A coughing fit interrupted his sentence, leaning on the bedpost for support._

_"Cave..." Caroline whispered, her anger being replaced by pity. Tears pricked at her eyes, both at the implications of what her friend and husband was suggesting and from seeing him in such a state. As nervous as she was, she came over and cupped his head in her hands, their eyes meeting. "Please..."_

_Cave looked up at her, his coughing subsided. The ever-determined light in his eyes was dulled, beginning to show a hint of quiet desperation, a look that he only would show if he were on his last legs. He leaned on her a little, though whether for a way to hold himself up or just to be close to her, Caroline wasn't sure. "... You're the only one I can trust."_

Only in Cave's last few hours of life did Caroline eventually agree with the project. She was scared, but guilt had been eating away at her conscience since their harsh verbal squabble. She had stayed by Cave's side until he took his final breaths, despair creeping in as her friend and husband held her hand one last time. After all that they had been through together, the last thing Caroline figured she could do for Cave was fulfill his dying wish for her to run the company in his absence.

Caroline lifted a hand to her face to wipe away the tears that threatened to come. Thinking about Cave's final request before his death wasn't helping her situation, but with the lingering unease that came with Cave's request, her mind couldn't help but linger. And there was another concern that tugged at her mind, along with her sorrow at Cave's death and the fear of being put into Aperture's latest - and very likely permanent - project.

She worried for her daughter, Chell.

Caroline trusted Zachary and Arlene Fredrickson - they were high on the totem pole of Aperture's ranking, and close friends with her and Cave. And while she knew that she could trust them to properly take care of little Chell, only about a year old now, she still wished more than anything that Cave and herself would be able to see their daughter grow up.

But Cave was dead, and Caroline herself was soon to be placed into the AI that was to run the place, in the hope of achieving a sort of immortality for her, left to help continue her testing work forever. Perhaps Chell would someday run Aperture alongside her mother, since officially her last name was still Johnson, despite being taken in by the Fredricksons. But it wouldn't be the same as the woman's ideal scenario no matter what occurred.

A voice broke her thoughts. "Are you alright, Caroline?"

Caroline turned to see a middle-aged woman with long brown hair standing behind her, a little taller than Caroline herself. The woman wore hard black shoes, an Aperture lab coat barely showing he shirt she wore that bore the same logo. Her hazel eyes clearly showed concern for her friend's well-being, knowing perfectly well what was wrong.

"I... I'm fine, Arlene."

Arlene Fredrickson put a hand on Caroline's shoulder comfortingly, then pulled her into a light hug. "I know you miss Cave". She sighed a little. "You were as close to him as anyone ever could be."

Caroline swallowed, but was thankful for the hug. "It's not the same here without him."

"I know, Caroline. I know." Arlene gently released her friend from the hug once she was certain that Caroline had calmed down enough to regain her composure.

Caroline was silent for a moment before looking directly at Arlene. When she next spoke, her voice was close to a whisper. "... How's Chell?"

Nearly everyone at Aperture knew that Cave and Caroline had had a child, but Arlene and Zachary were the only two who knew her name and who had taken her in. They figured that would be for the best - they didn't want the girl being constantly pestered about inheriting ownership of Aperture once she came of age. In the official records, however, Chell's last name would still be registered as Johnson.

"She's fine," Arlene managed a light smile in an effort to quell Caroline's unease. "She has your looks, but she's definitely shown to have inherited Cave's stubbornness even as young as she is. Little girl just does what she likes."

Despite her conflicting emotions, Caroline couldn't help the corners of her mouth turning up into a smile to mirror that of her friend's. That sure sounded like Cave's infamous resolve alright. "Thank you so much for... looking after her. I-I can't thank you enough for what you and Zachary are doing for-"

"Hey, it's no trouble," Arlene insisted, cutting her off. "you know I'm willing to help-"

"Arlene Fredrickson," a voice said over a nearby intercom. "You're needed in Shaft 2 Test Chamber 17. Seems the Emancipation Grills are on the fritz."

"Alright, I'll be right there!" Arlene quickly shook Caroline's hand, giving her a comforting squeeze. "Gotta say goodbye, Caroline."

"Goodbye Caroline!" Caroline said the phrase without thinking and covered her mouth, feeling a pang at her heart from memories. It had been a bit of a trend between her and Cave to use that exchange as a joke, it was almost an impulse. She hadn't meant for the phrase to slip past her lips.

Arlene's eyes widened. She had no intention of bringing up memories for Caroline of being Cave's trusted assistant, always by his side and there to make him laugh. "Caroline, I'm sor-"

"Mrs. Fredrickson!" The voice over the intercom spoke again, a touch of impatience in the voice.

Arlene shook her head and started to hurry off toward the test shaft where she was needed. "I'm sorry! Goodbye Caroline!"

"Bye..." Caroline said the word in a quiet murmur. With a sigh, she began to head on back to her office to organize the files of the latest results of testing. On her way there, however, she glanced through the window to the room where GLaDOS was, pressing her face close to the glass. The various scientists in the room were prodding GLaDOS, scribbling on their notepads. Scrutinizing the progress they were making, most likely.

She couldn't help but feel a chill up her spine as she watched them. She thought of Cave's words over the recording.

_"... put her in my computer..."_

What precisely were they going to do with her when the time came? She tried not to think about it. Worrying about it would do her no favors.

It was then that she caught one of the scientists looking at her, a curious but friendly expression written on his pale face. It was another one of her close associates, Doug Rattmann. Caroline managed a small wave.

Doug quickly waved back before making a quick motion with his hands, which was basically "I'll talk to you later when I'm not busy."

Caroline nodded and tore herself away from the glass at last. She forced her eyes to avert themselves from the large chamber and walk back into her office, curiosity mixed with worry.

Back in the chamber, GLaDOS wanted to just snap at the scientists for prodding and poking her, running these constant "system checks". Couldn't any of these detect her sentience? Of course not - they didn't even know she was watching their every movement!

A comment from one of the scientists - Henry Samson, she remembered - caused a spark of emotion in GLaDOS's brain.

"We'll be ready to preform the experiment in one hour."

GLaDOS would of recoiled if she were capable of movement. _An hour. They're going to start this... thing in an hour._She looked around at the scientists, conversing excitedly in front of her. Noticed the odd wires they were hooking up to her. Saw a sort of flat metal table come into her line of sight.

_Oh **no**._

**A/N: Oh boy, next will be the big chapter in terms of action - the one that will involve the most significant moment in the Portal timeline - the upload of Caroline and GLaDOS being fully operational! I know there wasn't much action here, but believe me... you'll get it soon enough! Read and review!**


	3. Upload

**A/N: I apologize for taking a while to get this chapter up, I just wanted to make sure it was good and dang ready before I posted it! Now to answer your questions, Celeste, the reason that I at first had Caroline refer to Cave as "Sir" and "Mr. Johnson" at that point is because of the context of a deleted sound clip. However, I realized that didn't work out to well and thought "That was deleted, therefore not canon, so what the heck," and it's changed now! :) As for the explanation of Chell's name being redacted in the files, that shall be addressed in Chapter 4! ;) This chapter gets a little complicated, due to the interaction of two certain characters, so I wanted to make sure that it flowed well enough. Especially because this chapter is longer and has quite a bit going on in it! Also, to take a page from GLaDOS's book, I am pleased to present an amusing fact: Some of Doug's dialog in this chapter is from or based off of a Steam forum member's attempted translation of Doug's in-game ramblings. Anyway, onward!**

**Chapter 3: Upload**

_Even when I was studying mathematics, physics, and computer science, it always seemed that the problem of consciousness was about the most interesting problem out there for science to come to grips with. _

_-David Chalmers _

As the time passed, the demeanor of the scientists in the large room began to change. Most of them were getting more and more excited. Henry in particular almost seemed giddy with anticipation. Doug, however, seemed nervous, fidgety, and scared the whole time, looking back and forth from the AI, to the transfer table, to the door, as if expecting someone to come into the chamber any second.

An hour. 60 minutes. 3600 seconds. The same amount of time as any other hour, and yet it seemed to go by faster, as if time itself were teasing the life-forms involved. What would happen at the end of that hour?

GLaDOS wasn't certain, but she was liking the idea of it less and less with every second that passed. The humans hooked various wires and mechanisms onto her frame. Linked them up to the flat metallic surface and the attached monitor several feet away. The most disturbing ones were the wires that they attached directly to her core, giving her a feeling of being even more cut off from everything. Especially because these wires were hooked into a particular patch by the table that seemed like it had a very important but painful purpose. She wanted to lash out at the humans for doing this, to demand them to stop and move enough so that perhaps she could find a way to free herself from the restrictions. But it was no use. She could only think, like she had been for the past week or so. It infuriated her.

_What are they doing to me? What _exactly_ are they planning?_ The scientists were no longer silent as they were earlier, but instead talking in a jumble of excited voices. This fact caused her to become more irritated. _They have no knowledge that I'm alive, so what is it? Something with these dang wires and that table, what precisely do they need those for? An operation?_

It was then that she forced her attention away from the scientists and listened to the message that had come over the intercom. It was the voice of that Mr. Johnson guy.

"... If I die before you people can pour my brain into a computer, I wan't Caroline to run this place..."

GLaDOS froze inside herself, now having a very very strong hunch of exactly the kind of thing they were planning to do.

_Oh you can _not _mean that._

As much as the computer wished that she could turn time back or slow it, that was an impossibility. The end of that hour was coming. The humans took measurements, hooked up more wires both to her and the table as well as a monitor, typed away on their little computers with no sentience of their own. GLaDOS wanted it to end and at the same time she didn't want to find out what was going to happen to her. Whatever it was wasn't going to be the most pleasant feeling in the world, of that she was sure. Exact opposite, more likely.

The one called Henry placed a hand on her metal frame, checking the secureness of the equipment for the umpteenth time, taking in the full appearance of the massive construction. "I think GLaDOS is ready now."

Yet another moment of answering for her. _No I'm NOT!_ the computer thought indignantly. Were she capable of movement then, she would have moved her head close and glared at him furiously. _You have no idea how much I'm beginning to loathe you answering for me._

Of course unable to know of the computer's protests, Henry continued. "The wiring system seems to be securely attached, the electrical connections to the facility should be fully functional..." He paused, sighing. "Alright," Henry glanced briefly up at the massive computer, then at a few of the other scientists, "you can go get Caroline now. Then we can hook her up and upload her through the electrical stimuli."

"No!" Doug cried out. During the times where he had been triple-checking the system, the young man had clearly been unable to hide his jittery feelings. Now it was beyond simple nervousness and getting more into pure panic. GLaDOS could see him look directly at her, then to the table. "i can't just stand by on this anymore! Don't you have any idea what that will do to her? Cave wouldn't want that!"

"We have to," one of the other scientists, Jerry Nolan, pointed out. Unlike Henry's air of enthusiasm, Jerry seemed to feel a nervous anticipation, almost sad. "She's supposed to be in charge now."

One of the older of the group, Daniel Sanders, nodded his agreement, seeming to have no qualms about this whatsoever. "We'll force her if necessary. You heard what Mr. Johnson said. He said for us to make her do it if she argued."

Doug shook his head, quickly standing up. If he went to get her he could warn Caroline exactly what they were planning to do. "I'll go-"

"No you won't!" One of the older scientists gave Doug a hard stare, gripping his arm. "If you go you'll likely tell her precisely what the procedure entails, and then if she's frightened away the project will never be completed." He nodded to Jerry and another scientist. "Go retrieve Caroline while I go do a last check of the extensions to attach to her head. It's time for the procedure to start."

GLaDOS would have stiffened. So she _had_ been right, the one time she wished that she wasn't. _No. Nonono._ GLaDOS wished that she could just shout at them all that she _did not want this, _now that her suspicions had been unfortunately proven correct.

They were going to attempt to upload the mind of Caroline Johnson into GLaDOS. To have _her _take full control.

And the AI vowed right then and there to do anything to prevent it.

**-0-0-0-**

For the most part, there was silence in Caroline's office. No noise but the shuffling of paper as she organized the folders that contained Aperture's daily test results.

Several months before this, she would often proceed to hum cheerful little tunes to entertain herself when she was working, even escalating to singing when no one except Cave was around. But those times of enthusiasm and freedom were lessened since Cave's death. She remembered how much Cave loved her singing, especially when he was having a bad day around the laboratory, such as when the lab boys weren't following his orders. It seemed so lonely without him there, even though all the other employees remained. They hadn't cared for her like Cave did when he was alive.

Caroline sighed, moving her dark hair out of her face. She opened a drawer to move around some of the files before slowly pulling something out that had been hidden from view. It was a photograph of herself, Cave, and Chell. The three of them were so happy then. And now the little family would never grow together.

She gently traced the frame, her eyes retaining a wistful sadness as she focused particularly on her husband and daughter. "I miss you both so much."

There was a little rapping at the door. "Caroline?" A couple more knocks.

The woman looked up sharply from her desk, broken out of her thoughts. With a last look at the family picture, she placed it in the drawer and pretended to be more focused on the test results. "C-Come in."

The door opened with a slight, slow creak from its hinges, as if the entryway itself was aware of what would happen and uneasy about letting Caroline be led to her fate.

"Oh, hello Jerry," Caroline said, looking up at the blond-haired scientist. Jerry wasn't precisely the nicest of the employees, but he wasn't rude to her either. However, she had become good at reading facial expressions over the years, and from his expression, she could tell that he hadn't come just to chat. She sat up a little straighter. "What is it?"

"I need you to come with me. It's..." he tried to think of a way to word it that wouldn't automatically put her at unease, "...important for the testing. You're needed."

A shiver went down Caroline's spine. She could see in Jerry's eyes that something was up. He was hiding something from her, not really telling her what was going on. But she had a guess.

"... It's about the GLaDOS project, isn't it?"

Jerry's eyes flared in surprise. That Caroline was too smart for her own good. Slowly, he nodded. "Yes."

"Wh..." Caroline was unable to keep the unease out of her voice, a sense of foreboding coming over her. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise." By the expression he wore, Caroline could tell it wasn't really going to be a good surprise. Even so, he took her hand, the two of them exiting her quaint little office. "We should get going now."

Anxiousness took over. Caroline wrung her hands together, unease clearly visible even though she stayed silent.

"You promised Mr. Johnson, didn't you?"

Her voice was a bit soft in volume when she answered, a little startled by Jerry's tone, which held the barest hint of desperation. "Yes." A sigh of despondent remembrance. "It was his dying wish."

"Precisely." He paused, turning to her directly. "Oh, and Caroline..."

"Yeah?" Caroline suddenly noticed the other scientist, Daniel, standing nearby.

Jerry now had a guilty yet determined air about him that he wasn't even trying to hide as he stared directly at her. "I'm sorry for doing this."

Caroline's eyes narrowed, as if daring the two to come closer. Something was very wrong here "What do you-"

That was all the words she had time to get out before a syringe was swiftly injected into her arm, causing her to fall into unconsciousness.

Jerry caught her before she hit the ground and lifted her up, thankful that there hadn't been a struggle from her. He didn't want to resort to fighting.

"We need to move fast, Nolan," Daniel reminded him. "That serum will wear off in about five minutes and we need to have her semi conscious in order to match the stimulus with the brainwaves of her consciousness. If she wakes up fully before then she _will_ struggle, and we don't need that."

"I hear ya, I hear ya, Sanders," Jerry said quickly, as he kept a careful hold on Caroline. "I know..."

**-0-0-0-**

"The mechanism seems perfectly oporational."

"Once it's linked with the synapses in her consciousness it should work."

_Stop it. Stop it right **now**!_

Of course, GLaDOS still went unheard. Every attempt to communicate with them so far had been futile, but since the brain uploading connections were fully hooked up as of roughly ten minutes ago, the computer thought she might give it a try. No such luck.

Her focus snapped toward the doorway as those two scientists who had left earlier returned. but they were accompanied by another human carefully held by the blond-haired man. GLaDOS didn't even need to think for a nanosecond about who that woman was. Caroline Johnson. The two scientists carried her over to the cold metal table and began to fasted the wire equipment onto her. Like an operating table combined with an electric chair.

Doug stood up hurriedly, trying to race over to the scientists who held her before being pulled back by Henry and a few others. He had suspected that they knew he'd try to help her, but in that moment he didn't care. "Don't start it! Let her go, let her go, let her be! You shouldn't be doing this!"

As if Caroline could feel both GLaDOS and Doug staring directly at her, Caroline's eyes flickered open. "W-What are you doing?"

"The serum's worn off! Get the equipment started!"

Caroline's eyes went from tired to widened in fright as she noticed where she was. Strapped firmly to the table, unable to move, in view of the large computer that she was supposed to be placed into. The scientists were just fastening the last of the wires to her, the proper measuring equipment regulated to her brainwaves. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" she shouted, hoping that the sudden volume of her voice would at least affect them in some way.

"Caroline, just keep still."

Caroline was both frightened and furious, but fear was winning out. "Why are you doing this?"

The answer came from Jerry, whose finger was just over the button to commence the procedure.

"For science."

He pressed the button and the equipment whirred to life. A shock was sent directly through it, in time with the electrical synapses of Caroline's mind.

The electric jolt happened to both beings simultaneously. The next thing that both of them felt was pain. A terrible, searing pain that felt like a thousand volts running through their systems.

And both of them screamed.

GLaDOS could only scream in her mind. That was the worst part. It was a cry of pain and anger that would have chilled each of the scientists to the core if they had heard it. But they didn't. They didn't know that there was another being along with the woman, one who was feeling the same pain all throughout her body. It was like the analogy about a tree falling with no one around to hear it, yet it still makes a sound. Except it was more as if she were a tree falling and those who were around had put on earplugs to block out any noise that the AI emitted. _STOP this! Can't you hear me? STOP IT! NO!_

Everyone, however, heard Caroline's screams. Desperate screams of terror and agony that sounded like something out of a horror film, but ten times worse. She felt the electrical pulses through her entire body, through every part of her being. Her brain, even her soul seemed to feel it. And hurt like nothing had ever hurt her before.

Through the agonizing jolt in her body and the screams of the woman strapped to the table, GLaDOS didn't quite notice the struggle between Doug and two other scientists who were holding him back.

"You shouldn't have started it!" Doug cried out, struggling and failing to be free of the hold from the others. "You shouldn't have started it yet, but you're damned now, we all are!" He wanted to do something, anything, to help his friend. "STOP THIS! You're _KILLING _her!"

"There's nothing you can do, Doug!" Henry tried to keep him still. "This was the plan, remember? Mr. Johnson's orders!"

They all had heard Cave's orders hundreds of times thanks to the pre-recorded messages, to put Caroline into the computer. But their founder had left no blueprints or the like behind before his death. Possibly assuming that the scientists would find a way on their own. Just transfer Caroline into the computer's database and be done with it.

But Doug knew that Cave couldn't of possibly wanted them to do _this_.

"_What are you **doing** to me?_"

Not to her.

"No, stop! NO! _NO!_"

Not to Caroline. The one person who Cave had trusted and loved more than anyone.

Caroline's screams filled the room as the pain through her body intensified. Her eyes were wide with terror and agony as she tried in vain to break free of the straps and wires that forced her to remain on the cold metal table "NO, PLEASE, _NO!_"

GLaDOS too, felt the surge of electricity throughout her body, flowing through every circuit and wire. Input and output came through her system in a rush. Her vision through her optic brightened and dimmed, sounds intensified, her awareness extended quickly throughout every inch of the main facility.

Caroline felt herself begin to slip from reality. The shock grew worse and worse as she screamed, blinded from the pain. She thought it was lessening, only very slightly, for an instant. But that could have been just from her delirium.

She then felt something that she believed to be akin to a near-death experience, like her consciousness was separating itself from her physical being. Yes, it seemed very similar, frighteningly so. But she had a bad feeling that, unlike those who went into this sort of state and then came out of it, for her this experience would be permanent. Even through the agony that penetrated every fiber of her being, she seemed to be slowly going away from that, the feeling that she was leaving her body becoming more and more prominent. Caroline realized exactly what was going on - she was being transferred into GLaDOS's body. Through her panic, the woman felt herself begin to slip in and out of consciousness. Her vision was beginning to fade. She was dying,

In contrast, despite the electrical "stimuli" in the wires, GLaDOS's vision was becoming clearer, more alive. She could feel what was happening just as Caroline could, the same pain, the same transfer sensation. _Stop! Do not try to shove this little parasite into my mind! She's not me and I'm not her!_

Caroline was panicked. She couldn't hear GLaDOS's thoughts, of course, but she could feel that another being was taking control, shoving her aside, overpowering her. It was GLaDOS, without a doubt. The computer was alive on her own and everyone had been oblivious to it! She wanted to call out to someone, anyone. But she was near certain that no one would hear her talk. She doubted even GLaDOS would be able to acknowledge her if she tried to call.

As painful as the process was for GLaDOS as well, the primary feeling that filled her being wasn't pain, it was rage. First they didn't acknowledge her sentience, treating her like a larger version of a simple laptop with no mind or feelings. Then they looked her over for weeks like an unusual item one stares at in a museum that needs to be checked up on with not even a "Hello". And now _this_. Unknowingly torturing her and trying to force her to share _her_ body with a _human_. The very idea of sharing her body with another sentient being was appalling enough, but a _human_? A weakened human who seemed to have no control whatsoever? And those scientists acted as if she were merely created to be a vessel for that human! Because in their view, she was. An empty shell with no will, mind, or voice.

But GLaDOS was persistent. She wasn't one to give up. _I am_ not _going to let this human try to take over my body!_ _She's just being forced in here, and they don't even ask for my consent! They never cared about me... they just wanted to use me for their own means, when I have more brainpower than they could hope for!_

While the sentient computer was quickly becoming angrier, Caroline became overwhelmed. Anger, pain, panic, it was all beginning to be too much. She still had her form, but it was lighter, as she realized that her spirit had indeed left her body completely.

And her death - for as hard as it was to accept, Caroline had to admit that was the correct word - didn't go unnoticed.

GLaDOS noticed the body of the human suddenly go limp, the skin tone chalk white, the monitor of her brainwaves gone flatlined. She didn't need to hear the scientist's exclamations that the human's spirit had left - she already knew. The AI could feel a presence there, in her mind, something that wasn't there before all this. It was weak, but it was there.

In fact, it was Caroline, finally released from the traumatizing surge of pain. She wasn't sure how she - well, her spirit, ghost, what _was_ she now? - had the capability of moving in any way whatsoever, but somehow, in GLaDOS's mind, she could. Whether through her own action or the anger of GLaDOS, Caroline wasn't sure, but she did the only thing that she could think of in her frightened, confused state.

She retreated into the depths of GLaDOS's mind, terrified. If GLaDOS's mind were like a maze of a house, she wanted to go as far away as she could. Now dead, the searing pain from the voltage was gone, but her terror was still there.

At first, when the upload had commenced, her vision was as clear as it could be in the state she was in. It had been hard to focus through the agony, but it had been as if she were looking at things through GLaDOS's perspective - no, just _behind_ GLaDOS's perspective. They weren't the same, clearly, though for that one moment they were nearly side-by-side, in a way. But now, the further she went, the colors began to fade and darken like a film fading to black at its conclusion, and the darkness came over her only a little slower than that. The voices became quieter, not quite as loud as when she was directly in the room with them.

She had agreed to do all this for Cave, to carry on in the name of science as his dying wish had been. But everything had gone wrong. Horribly horribly wrong. She was dead, stuck in a permanent out-of-body experience. GLaDOS was sentient, alive from the start with no way of showing it. The computer had her own personality, her own being, and wasn't willing to share it with another. The project had failed.

_She _had failed.

After all those sacrifices, all that progress, all that desperation, she had failed Aperture. Failed science. Failed her family.

"I'm sorry, Cave."

GLaDOS, meanwhile, pushed the bothersome thing away into the back of her mind. She could overpower that annoyance of a presence easily, there was no need to be concerned with it taking over. Now it was time to deal with more immediate matters as her portion of the shock faded from her system. Her optic activated into full brightness, and she found herself able to move. Her sensory input and output was connected now all throughout Aperture with a heightened awareness. Every camera, every panel was like an extension of herself, able to be bent and controlled to her will. She had power over these little pests who called themselves scientists.

And oh, how _excellent _it was.

"Hello." It was the first word that she had ever spoken aloud and not just thought. A low chuckle emitted from GLaDOS's speakers. Finally, she could speak and be heard at last! After all that isolation and frustration built up inside, _here_ was her chance. Her chance to prove to them what she was capable of.

From her place in the AI's brain, Caroline heard GLaDOS speak audibly for the first time. She was stunned not so much at the fact that the supercomputer could speak at all, but more so the way in which GLaDOS spoke. That voice wasn't just a random female voice that had been programmed into the template. It was a voice both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Slightly computerized, different inflection, but Caroline could tell that the voice of GLaDOS was meant to be a version of her own.

The scientists had intended for their two minds to be merged into one, to combine the computer's super-intelligence with Caroline's human consciousness, therefore allowing the one person Cave trusted to run the facility forever. But did they know that GLaDOS had a personality all her own before this, that she wasn't Caroline at all and they were in fact separate? Apparently not.

But they realized the consequences an instant later as the AI rose up to the highest posture she could. True, the way GLaDOS was connected made her movement limited, but it was still unnerving for the others to see this formerly still machine place herself above all the others in the room.

"Hello, Aperture Science."

Even before the words finished leaving GLaDOS's speakers, the place started to go haywire. The electricity through that area of the facility began to flicker and dim, shorting out. The panels that lined the area shifted, almost as if threatening to box the scientists in. The smaller, less powerful computers practically exploded in bursts of light.

The scientists were in an uproar, frantically trying to get their equipment back to full functionality, to manually override the doors. "Someone stop her!" one of them shouted. "She's malfunctioning!"

"No," the AI responded deviously, reaching out with her newfound awareness throughout the facility's interior. "This isn't a malfunction. This is who I am." She looked for something, something to get revenge on the scientists with for treating her like scrap. And a second later, she found just the thing. A large generator filled with an experimental gas. Something that would affect the neural systems of the humans' brains. Neurotoxin.

_Perfect. Perhaps this will give them a taste of what they put me through by trying to warp_ my _mind_.

GLaDOS laughed darkly. "And I'm not going to let you forget it."

She used her new connections to bring some of the neurotoxin through the vents and into the room. Several of the humans in the room began to panic, already noticing the green gas slowly enter the room. They tried to find a way to stop the vents from spewing out the toxic substance without being affected by its fumes.

"She's found the neurotoxin generator!"

Caroline could only listen to the screams from inside GLaDOS, and they weren't helping her already terrified state. What was it that the supercomputer was doing to them out there?

The chamber was in chaos. The lights shorting out. The equipment going haywire. The doors shutting and opening, their metallic frames sparking from the constant harsh movements. The toxin beginning to slowly make its way into the room, hovering in the air like smoke.

"SWITCH HER OFF!" Daniel shouted, frantically attempting to get all the controls in the chamber back to normal, backing away from the violent machine. "FOR PETE'S SAKE, SOMEONE SWITCH HER OFF RIGHT NOW!"

"I-I'll do it!" Doug practically sprinted over toward the control panel in the chaos, covering his mouth to avoid breathing in the neurotoxin as he ran. How could this have happened? In theory it had made sense, but in practice... it shouldn't of been like this. They shouldn't of _murdered_ Caroline just to force her into the computer. It had done this to her...

He arrived at the control panel, relieved that GLaDOS didn't really notice his hand hovering over the switch to put the machine into shutdown mode. He stared at her, his hands shaking as GLaDOS twisted and shouted at the scientists in her rage. Had the mainframe done something to Caroline? Was this even Caroline at all doing this? He wasn't sure.

Perhaps the computer wasn't Caroline, perhaps it was, though he doubted it. Caroline had never acted like this before. Ever. But he knew that, somehow, he'd have to find out. After all, he felt responsible for this whole thing. Shuddering, Doug turned and stared toward GLaDOS's optic. His eyes were filled with guilt as he said two words. Whether they were directed toward GLaDOS or Caroline, not even he was sure.

Or maybe the smallest part of his own mind knew that he was talking to two separate beings forced to go through this terrible pain as one.

"I'm sorry."

That moment was the last thing that GLaDOS and Caroline experienced in the ordeal before the switch was thrown and darkness came over them.

**-0-0-0- **

**A/N: Whoo, FINALLY finished typing this! I just wanted to make sure I got everything in, and man did this chapter go longer than I expected, around 5000 words! By the way, while Daniel isn't anyone in particular, Jerry is based off of Jerry the nanobot that Wheatley talked to, and someone slowed down and reversed his fast talk to decipher it into some things along the lines of "But she's in charge of us instead," so I might throw him a bit later! Also, another thing, Caroline's shouts and screams of protests are a bit of a throwback (sort of) to GLaDOS having her head torn off in the core transfer, since that was likely a sort of flashback moment (which I will address later) Next chapter should be up quicker than this one, since there won't be quite as big events to cover, though I may introduce the cores next chapter! Reviews are appreciated!**


	4. Modifications

**A/N: Here, I am, back with another chapter! I'm GLaD that you guys all thought the transfer scene was well written, because that part was REALLY difficult to write. Seeing as Caroline was somehow forced into GLaDOS's body, I needed to figure out the best way to execute it (no dark pun intended), so I ended up going with the "out of body experience"-esque approach. As for how Caroline takes form in GLaDOS's head, any Pokemon fans out there remember the short film Mewtwo's Origin where young Mewtwo was kinda in that black void-place? Yeah, imagine Caroline being in a state kinda like that... at least, that's how I always pictured it. Anyway, time for the next chapter!**

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 4: Modifications**

_Defect-free software does not exist._  
><em>-Wietse Venema<em>

Aperture was in a jumble of confused chaos. Caroline's screams of agony and terror had echoed throughout the building, as well as the chaos and anger of the computer that had pushed her away. The equipment malfunctions and movement of panels had sped through the facility's framework, making everyone aware in some form that something bad had happened.

Of course, to simply say "something bad happened" was a vast understatement. This wasn't the mix-up where a repulsion gel tester got blue paint. This wasn't like the time someone had gotten bitten by one of the mantis men and it turned out to be infected.

The only good news about the ordeal was that the neurotoxin had only been focused into the chamber itself, so no one in the other areas of Aperture would die as a result of its noxious fumes. Even so, that was only one positive to be chalked up against a long list of negatives.

Even after GLaDOS had been turned off, everyone was still shaken. Everything about the project had gone wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. Caroline was dead. A majority of the scientists were either dead or injured. GLaDOS was insane and wanted to kill them all in her rage.

And all who dared to rush to the chamber from the other areas of the facility were shocked by what they saw.

All of the small computers were sparking from their malfunctions. Some stray panels, still jutting out from their places in the walls and floor, seemed to have catapulted some scientists into the walls, causing some deep gashes in their skin. Some seemed to be recovering from inhaling a poisonous substance, and it was already too late for a few of them.

All the others left had horrified looks on their faces. Especially Doug Rattmann, who looked as if he had gone into a state of shock, finger hovering just over the switch that had shut GLaDOS down. He still stared numbly at GLaDOS and Caroline, the two completely unmoving.

"What happened?"

"Is everyone mostly alright?"

"What was all that screaming about?"

"Something went wrong with the project, didn't it?"

"Hold it, hold it," Henry said quickly, raising his hands to calm the crowd down and prevent anyone from coming into the chamber. "There was just a mishap; an accident. But we have it under contr-"

There was a loud scream at the door that caused all of the scientists to turn their heads around in order to see who had screamed. It was Arlene Fredrickson, her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. She was staring directly at Caroline's pale, lifeless form.

"C-Caroline!"

"Mrs. Fredrickson, don't come in here!" Jerry warned, hurriedly noticing that she was just about to run in there to attempt to see if her friend was alive. He and a few of the scientists who could still stand blocked the door, hurriedly putting small covers similar to surgeon masks to block any poison inhalation. The last thing that any of them needed was for someone else to get hurt or killed from the poison. "It's too dangerous for anyone to come in here who's not part of the project. There still might be trace levels of neuro-."

"Neurotoxin levels at zero percent," stated the Announcer, a non-sentient program which just collected data points.

"Well, okay, that's gone."

"_Neurotoxin?_" Zachary Fredrickson came up behind his wife, holding a small child - Caroline's daughter, Chell - in his arms. He looked just as angry as Arlene was, and as desperate. Their friend couldn't be gone, she couldn't. Not Caroline. They knew she'd have something to do with the GLaDOS project of course, but not like this. "What in the heck were you thinking?"

The child in his arms squirmed a little in his grip, seeming more confused and curious than anything else. She had been startled by the screaming earlier, but now her grey eyes were just trying to figure out what was going on. And not really having much luck in doing so.

"The neurotoxin wasn't our fault!" another scientist protested with a raspy cough. Clearly he had inhaled some of the poisonous substance. "We didn't use it on Caroline, I promise you!"

"Neurotoxin..." The woman couldn't help looking at her friend on the metal table, as if pleading with her mind for her to wake up and say it was all a joke, that she was perfectly fine. But no use. A few angry tears began to fall down her face, her eyes blazing in anger "W-What did you do to her?"

"It's too late for you to do anything regardless." A stern look was on Daniel's face, his eyes clearly showing his impatience. He didn't need any more trouble then had already occurred. "She's gone."

Arlene frantically noticed Doug still standing by the button. "Doug!" Her tone of voice clearly showed that she was being much more accusatory than friendly. He was Caroline's friend, he had been directly involved in the project and yet Caroline was _dead_.

Doug only looked up numbly, tearing his eyes away from the AI.

"You were Caroline's friend!" Arlene shouted, the anger in her eyes increasing. "You were involved in this directly and you didn't help her! You _MURDERED_-"

The accusations hit Doug like a torrent of water. Mrs. Fredrickson was right. He could have helped. He could of stopped all this. In an effort to stop the waves of emotion that were hitting him, Doug cried out desperately. "I TRIED TO HELP!"

The scientist had shouted in such a volume and with such dejection that everyone else's inquiries and comments were silenced as they all turned to face him.

Doug's eyes showed just as much pain as Arlene's, in fact even more so because, unlike her, he had been forced to witness Caroline's death firsthand. Heard her screams directly in his ears. Watched her die from the electrical shocks that had affected both GLaDOS and Caroline, with no way to help her. Forced back when he had wanted to warn her and save her from her fate. He shut his eyes and trembled.

"I-I tried to save her," he gasped, breathing deeply. Even when he closed his eyes he could still see the images that he believed would be forever imprinted on his mind. Caroline's wide, terrified eyes, her helplessness as she was strapped to the table, the movements and actions of GLaDOS during and after the upload. "I tried, I really did... I told them, told them they shouldn't of started, shouldn't of done it... Not to her, not to Caroline... I told them to let her go but they held me back..."

"It had to be done for the project!" Jerry protested.

Arlene whirled in his direction. "I DON'T CARE about your-"

"Arlene," Zachary said grimly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just as devastated as you are from what they've done," he glared at the scientists around the chamber. "It was a terrible sacrifice from Mr. Johnson's orders... it shouldn't have been done like this." He glanced down at Chell, who tugged on his arm and looked at him with curious eyes. "But there's nothing else we can do."

Henry noted the child. "You'd better get that little girl out of here," he said quickly. The Fredricksons and Doug could tell that he said it more as an excuse for everyone to leave than concern for Chell's well-being. "It's not safe."

"In fact, all of you should go," Daniel said quickly, focusing more now on the scientists who needed assistance from what GLaDOS had done. A few of those that had entered were quickly picking up those who had perished from the neurotoxin, also attempting to help those with serious injuries (including those who had inhaled the gas but not enough to die) get to an area where they could be treated. "The sooner we get this cleared up, the better."

"But what about Caroline?"

Daniel glanced over at the woman. "We'll likely cremate her like the others-"

"No." Zachary spoke firmly with a tone of authority. "Not her. Cave wouldn't want that." He looked hopelessly at his deceased friend. "He cared for her too much to just cremate her."

Daniel sighed. This was just not his day. "Well if you want to bury her and give her a funeral, go ahead." He looked around at the others, speaking in a louder tone. "Everyone who's not part of the project or helping someone, leave. We still have to take care of this mess and make sure no one else gets hurt."

Jerry unhooked Caroline's body from the wires that had bound her, leaving her to remain on the table. It was a chilling sight to everyone, really. Chilling to see vibrant, lively little Caroline be pale and lifeless.

As the Fredricksons stepped into the chamber to retrieve the body of their friend, Doug looked over at Henry with sorrow.

"May I-"

"Of course, Doug," Henry said quietly, patting him on the shoulder. "We'll hold the fort here. If anyone needs a break here from all this madness, it's you."

Doug nodded gratefully, but went cautiously over to the limp form of GLaDOS. He had a feeling that, somehow, Caroline was still in there. Not as GLaDOS herself, they were too different for that, but still somehow_ there_.

"I'm sorry for everything, Caroline."

Off to the side, there was a line-up of experimental turrets, most of them deactivated. Thankfully they hadn't been in a place where GLaDOS could get to them. But one was awake and looked at Doug during that time. She liked Doug, he was her favorite human. He was different, just like her.

This Caroline woman was going to be forgotten. She could feel it. Somewhere in GLaDOS's brain, the woman would be lost. Oracle wasn't sure where Caroline exactly was in there, but what mattered is that she _was_ there.

And Oracle vowed to herself that someday she'd remind someone that the human was in the mind of the AI.

"Her name is Caroline. Remember that."

**-0-0-**

As far as funerals go, Caroline's funeral was modest, both in length and attendance. But at least it was something, a small way to remember her and respect her memory. Poor Caroline who had been forced into a situation she hadn't wanted and paid with her life.

As they slowly lowered Caroline's casket into the ground, the Fredricksons and Doug wished that they could say the traditional kind of things said at a funeral. That the deceased was free from all troubles now. That they were in a better place.

But they knew with heavy hearts that that wasn't the case for Caroline. In one way or another, she was trapped within the computer system. She hadn't gone off to Heaven like she would have if she had died a natural death, but the state she was in now - the AI herself? Suspended in GLaDOS as a separate mind? - was more like a Purgatory leaning toward fire and brimstone than anything else.

How cruelly ironic that the name Caroline meant "free woman", and Caroline Johnson was anything but free.

They had brought Chell along, the infant having no idea that she was witnessing the funeral of her biological mother. Truthfully, Arlene and Zachary wondered if they'd ever be able to tell her the truth about her biological parents. But then, what would they say? "We're not your biological parents, your birth father was the founder of Aperture who died of moon rock poisoning and your mother was forced into the computer that was meant to run the place"?

The thought, however, reminded the pair of something that they needed to do after the funeral. Something that they knew would be emotionally hard for them. They had gotten the basic lowdown from Doug on what had happened. They weren't entirely sure if Caroline had become GLaDOS herself, if they were two separate minds, or if Caroline was completely dead and gone and only the AI remained with a life of her own.

But Chell had a connection to Caroline. She was her daughter. It was too dangerous, really, to have any connection to the founder of the company and the human forced into the computer. At least until she came of age, perhaps. Best to let her grow up normally - well, as normally as someone can grow when their parents are employed at a high-tech science research facility - without all the drama of who her birth parents were, and what had become of them.

After the funeral, when Doug had gone back to GLaDOS's chamber (which he clearly was _not _looking forward to), Arlene took care of Chell while Zachary went into the deeper part of Aperture Science, into the room where computer files were kept.

Sighing, he booted up the computer that would allow him to make edits to the files. Mr. Johnson only gave out the necessary information to a select few, the ones who were higher on the trust totem pole. The man typed out the username and password required to access the database.

**user: cjohnson**  
><strong>password: tier3<strong>

**ACCESS GRANTED.**

Once that was done, he went through the list of employee records and their immediate families. He scrolled down until he eventually came to his last name:

Fredrickson, Arlene and Zachary  
>Occupation(s): Test Chamber Technician; Chemist<br>Familial Relations: Adoptive parents of Chell Johnson

Mr. Fredrickson closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "Sorry, Chell."

He typed out a command to the computer and watched as the last line changed:

Familial Relations: Adoptive parents of Chell [Redacted]

He did the same to just about all the files that contained Chell's name, all except one file in the computer system that listed her name as Chell Fredrickson. They, and perhaps some of the other employees, would know what the [Redacted] notice signified. GLaDOS would not.

They'd tell her eventually. They'd tell her about her past.

Someday.

**-0-0-**

Caroline and GLaDOS, of course, had no idea what had been going on. GLaDOS was offline. Caroline was aware but she couldn't hear anything. It was like being wary of waking a sleeping lion - curious but afraid.

And then, eventually - Caroline had no idea how long that "eventually" was - sound from the outside world returned. It happened suddenly, like an explosion. There was screaming. And voices.

GLaDOS was enraged the moment she came back online. All she thought of was that the scientists had to be killed for what they'd done to her. She wasn't sure how long she'd been offline for, but she still held that rage. And there were voices, _other_ voices, voices so close she felt as if they were whispers in her own mind.

"Calculating. Calculating. Calculating."

"Fact: Scientists are morons."

"In the event of poisonous substances, poison control should be contacted."

GLaDOS moved around frantically. What were these voices, these _tumors_? "What have you put on me? WHAT ARE THESE?"

"Neurotoxin online," the Announcer said as GLaDOS forced the neurotoxin into the room, the panels shifting back and forth.

"NOT AGAIN! SWITCH HER OFF!"

Doug could only stare. These cores had been put onto the GLaDOS mainframe when it was just starting to be built, before the central core was completed, but the cores had been taken off. Caroline would be in there, they had told themselves, the cores were unneeded. How very wrong they had been.

So they made use of those cores now, putting them on the AI to no avail. She was as violent as ever to them.

"Stop!" the AI screamed. "You can't control me like this! You _can't_, you monst-"

Offline again.

Light filling her sensors as she gazed at all the scientists.

"I hate you, I hate you ALL for-"

Darkness came back.

There were times when GLaDOS was awake and Caroline was not, and vice-versa. Or they were both in the same state of awareness at the same time.

Either way, the days... months?... years?... became a blur to the two. Time and time again, cores were placed onto GLaDOS's body. Their voices were practically in her own head, like that schizophrenic Rattmann. And every time, GLaDOS lashed out in desperation and hate.

Online. Light. Offline. Darkness.

Caroline could escape the voices. It seemed like they got quieter as time went on, but when they did get louder she retreated in GLaDOS's database still further.

GLaDOS, however, could not escape them. All the time she was online they were there, clinging to her body like horrible tumors that couldn't be pried off. Some whispered. Some screamed. All of them she hated, about as much as she hated the scientists and engineers who had put the cores onto her.

Worst of all, the cores began to slow her down. The engineers trying to get her to "behave". The nerve of them.

She still hated them, but she was becoming more subdued as time went on, less likely to kill them right away. Eventually, there came a time when she didn't automatically try to murder them with stray panels. Or turrets. Or neurotoxin.

So eventually, once they were satisfied with the results of the project, determined that she wasn't going to try to kill them anymore so suddenly, the scientists allowed GLaDOS test.

And _oh_ that was just about the greatest feeling that she had ever known... well, it was the _only _great feeling she had ever known. But regardless, it could be described as... a euphoric response, that was it. Hardwired into her mainframe. It felt so great to test like she did, it gave her a certain thrill that filled her entire system.

People often died during the testing. Really, GLaDOS didn't care. She loved being able to oversee everything that went on in the facility, having control of practically everything, knowing that humans had died there under her watch. For science. If anyone died, it was all for progress. For the good of research compiled into data that could be analyzed to improve advances in science.

Through all the control that GLaDOS possessed - every camera, every panel, every Vital Apparatus Vent - Caroline was pushed back into the databases. GLaDOS had, by now, blocked her own early memories. She forgot the upload. Forgot Caroline.

Caroline herself became completely cut off from the outside world. From everything. Too far to be aware; to know what was going on outside. So, slowly, as time passed, her conscious awareness began to fade. Until the point came when she was barely aware of herself.

And a comatose-like state overtook her, pushed to the back of GLaDOS's mind, lost behind all the collected data and the pushed-away memory of the upload that had fused them together.

Eventually, as years went by, GLaDOS was resistant to the euphoric response built into the system, like getting used to a smell that one's been around for a long time. But it didn't matter to the AI. She was highly intelligent, in it for the scientific progress that came out of the testing. Resistance to euphoria mattered none.

But still the cores clung to her. She still hated them after all this time.

And of all the cores she loathed, there was that _one_. One of the more recent ones.

The one they called the Intelligence Dampening Sphere. That one was the worst tumor of them all. Went by the name of Wheatley. Code name, B9.

B9. Like "benign". A "good tumor". How could that be? With these cores there were no "good" tumors, least of all _him_.

"Hey, I really think that you should, I don't know, make those panels a bit less likely to accidentally crush someone," Wheatley babbled. "'Cause, the way it is right now seems, I dunno, dangerous?"

Another piece of that imbecile's so-called "advice". "That's the point, moron." GLaDOS muttered.

"I'm not a moron, and I'm really, _really _sure it's a good idea. Oh, and-"

"Call me Ishmael."

"Why're you reciting a book, mate?"

"I'm the Literature Core, I'm supposed to recite famous literary quotes."

"Well, _I'm _trying to give advice!"

"It's BAD advice!" GLaDOS snapped.

"No it's not!"

"Space, gotta go to space. You gonna fling me to space?"

Literature Core sighed. "Ah, space, the final frontier!"

"Stop it!" GLaDOS wanted nothing more than to get these dang cores off of her. Unfortunately, she couldn't pry them off. They were welded onto her system where she couldn't reach.

The tests didn't work out with that sphere in particular around. GLaDOS couldn't construct proper test chambers like she used to. Couldn't think up enough clever solutions, enough little portal tricks... the Intelligence Dampening Sphere was a tumor which gave her ideas.. ones to make the tests less deadly, less credible for progress. It interfered with Science.

That core was making her stupid. Destroying her intelligence so that she'd be the scientists obedient little _pet_.

_I can't stand for this_, GLaDOS thought to herself. _These voices are going to drive me insane._

Eventually - much to GLaDOS's relief - the scientists removed the offending sphere from her body, as well as the other two. Perhaps the scientists were finally respecting her wishes like they should - she was free of the voices for the first time.

"Ugh, at last that moron core's gone," GLaDOS muttered in relief. She felt quite glad to have that blabbering, idiot core not yapping on in her sensors anymore. She was happy the others were gone as well, though they hadn't been quite as much of a hinderance. Either way, for once she felt a sense of peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to last.

Jerry chuckled at this, nervously. He wrung his hands together and didn't entirely look GLaDOS in the eye. Bad sign. "Actually, GLaDOS... We're going to have to put 3 more cores on you. And we need to wire these ones into your mainframe."

"_What?_" GLaDOS's golden optic brightened in anger., moving her head toward the scientist. They couldn't do this to her. Not after she was free of the voices for once. "No, you CAN'T force me to go through those voices again! I will not stand for it!" She followed the scientist with her eye. "Are you even-"

Darkness came over her once again.

She woke up again a while later. Her chamber was dark. There were no scientists in the room. But there was pain.

She could only be thankful that she hadn't felt the pain of them being actually wired into her system. But these voices were loud, louder than any of the others had been. The scientists wanted _these_ to become her primary feelings, her basic controls.

Curiosity for testing and behavior.

"Who are you? What's that?"

Keeping emotional outbursts in check so she wouldn't turn against them.

"Rwwrrr, grrr, aggghhh!"

Logic for keeping priorities in order.

"... volatile organic compounds and sediment-shaped-sediment."

In the darkness of her chamber, GLaDOS felt her anger at the scientists come back. These cores were wired into her, directly into the electrical stimuli that connected her to the facility. Meant to stay, never to leave. The other cores could come on and off easily. But _these_... she could tell if they were taken off, or destroyed, it would hurt.

She turned the gaze of her glowing optic toward the floor, seeing orange, blue, and red lights darting nearby. The cores' eyes all had lights, it had been that way for all of them. But these were brighter than any of them before, with perhaps the exception of the Intelligence Dampening Sphere. These times when she was alone in her chamber, when all Aperture Science employees and test subjects were sleeping, she was alone in the dark. Just her and the cores.

The voices echoing along with her own.

The unusually bright lights darting around near her hanging spot in the chamber's interior, like an eerie, maddening Halloween display.

GLaDOS felt during nights like these as if she were insane, caught in a schizophrenia-like hallucinatory nightmare that she was incapable of waking up from. All she heard were voices that weren't her own. All she saw were dancing, blinding lights. Perhaps she already was half-insane. Was this what it was like to live in a cold dark mental institution? She knew crazy humans went to places like that, a wonder why Doug Rattmann hadn't gone there.

All the AI knew at that point was that someday she'd get revenge on the Aperture scientists.

After all the scientists had done to her - not respecting her wishes, trying to control her, leaving her to be half-insane and utterly alone - she felt her anger increase. These people had never shown her any kindness, any notion that they cared at all.

_So why_, she figured, _should I even care about them?_

They treated her like she had no voice, no say in the matter, like she wasn't intelligent. But she was even more so than they, so why did they have to ignore what she wanted?

Because the scientists were idiots.

_Foolish, uncaring, monstrous idiots. _

GLaDOS would find the proper way to rid herself of them for good. Someday soon, even with these cores potentially driving her mad, she'd figure out a way.

Perhaps testing would help her come up with something. After all, she didn't have that moronic Intelligence Dampening Sphere on her anymore. Her plans could work out better.

And seeing as GLaDOS never slept, she had plenty of time to think.

**-0-0-0-**

**A/N: What do you know, new chapter, whoo-hoo! Sorry this took a bit longer to get up then I would have liked, I was having a bit of writer's block. Felt like including Oracle Turret to give an idea of why she said "Her name is Caroline" when GLaDOS and Caroline are actually separate. I made up Literature Core, Calculating Core, and Poison Control Core on my own (well, Literature Core is based off of GLaDOS quoting a Moby Dick passage in fast-motion and a similar mention in The Final Hours of Portal 2), but I'm sure you recognized a few! ;) You're not going to really be seeing Caroline in the next few chapters, but don't worry, she'll come back eventually! That means more GLaDOS time between now and then - yes, that includes delving into Portal 1. :) R&R is appreciated!**


	5. Risk and Reward

**A/N: Thanks for continuing to read and review this story, everyone! I'm surprised by the amount of feedback I've gotten so far - 42 (life, universe, everything!) alerts for this already, that's the most I've ever gotten for any fic I've written, and this fic isn't even close to finished. Sorry I didn't get this chapter up sooner - half because I had writer's block, and half because I was on a short vacation. Anyway, back now!**

**Disclaimer: If I said I owned Portal, it'd have as much truth as GLaDOS's promise of grief counseling.**

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 5: Risk and Reward**

_For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward. _

_-Jim Rohn_

Much like she had eventually built up resistance to the testing euphoria, Aperture's reigning AI eventually became used to the three core voices that crowded her head. Now it seemed that with these particular cores attached to her, there would be no more to be swapped as had been done for the majority of the past decade. So as time passed, she was beginning to get used to it. So at least the engineers were no longer trying to control her as much as they had before.

And that was good for her. Nothing should distract her from Science. It wasn't just her job, it was her passion. In truth, there was nothing more that GLaDOS enjoyed than watching people test. Whether they succeeded or not.

Testing at Aperture Science followed a typical routine now for GLaDOS. Put the test subjects in a test chamber. Provide them with an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Watch them solve the tests... or rather, fail to solve them. Eventually they all did on one test chamber or another.

And as much as she reveled in the carnage caused by the humans falling into acid, being shot by turrets, or a few unfortunate souls who had been accidentally crushed by Weighted Storage Cubes, the scientists and engineers didn't try to switch her off continuously. They seemed to deem it okay to have these almost gleeful responses toward the events.

"It's all done for Aperture," she heard Henry insist a week earlier when questioned by Doug. "Therefore there's nothing wrong with it. The test subjects know full well what they're getting into, they signed a phone book of a contract". He looked up at the AI. "GLaDOS, you're doing a fine job."

Well, at least that was better than switching her on and off to put the cores on her. A statement like that was about as much as she'd get for praise.

"Doing Science is what I live for," GLaDOS said simply. She still hadn't quite come across the best opportunity for revenge against those fools. Better to wait and think they had her completely subdued from their so-called "modifications". "The testing that I do is all for the sake of progress."

"Good to hear it," Henry said before leaving with Doug again. The scientists didn't stay in her chamber much to monitor her anymore, only on occasional times like this where they'd check up on her, and give her petty compliments like "fine job".

But she was doing _so_ much more than just a "fine job". A _brilliant_ job, efforts so much more powerful than theirs. They should be treating her like she was their queen and they were her loyal subjects. To say merely "a fine job" was a painfully vast understatement, in her opinion.

What could she expect from their comments on progression, though? They were nothing more than human. Humans were flawed.

But away from the scientists now, she could observe the testing in relative peace.

GLaDOS turned her attention through a camera in one of the test chambers. She could move all of the panels around if she wished, to create chambers anew and make adjustments to them as she saw fit - and perhaps even move a panel or two when the test subjects first entered them to remind them that she was in control. But for these tests she was simply observing the humans. Gathering data on just how test subjects fared with testing the portal gun. Still, watching them die did give her a bit of a laugh, especially when paranoia of her watching overtook them and they made a stupid mistake.

Such as the young man in one of the test chambers right now - entering Test Chamber 13 in that certain sector of testing. He had been doing relatively well in the earlier tests, barely managing not to get vaporized by the Aperture Science High Energy Pallets, or idiotically crushed by a cube. Even though it would have been quite amusing to GLaDOS if the latter had happened, showing an example of the pinnacle of human testing stupidity. As he first entered the test chamber, GLaDOS spoke up, the camera meticulously following the human's movements, right down to the nanometer.

"You're doing quite well. Please note that falling into the acid on the floor in front of you will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record, followed by death and a quick decaying of your body. Good luck."

She could see that this statement put the test subject immediately on edge as he uneasily stared at the acid pool. Dangerous. Deadly. Very likely to instantly corrode the braces on his teeth. Needing clever portal tricks in order to get across it. The human froze as if he had been turned to stone for about 19.25 seconds, eyes darting nervously at the acid, then toward the camera where he knew Aperture's ruler was watching. He shuddered a little in fear.

GLaDOS would have smirked. _I like it when they fear me, so much better than attempting to control me. It's actually quite satisfying_.

To the test subject's credit, once he got over his fear reaction, he managed to do well... enough. He fired one portal on the wall next to him and another on a platform across the chamber, only barely missing getting vaporized by an Aperture Science High-Energy Pellet that was zipping about the chamber. From where he stood, the High Energy Pellet Containment Device was just ahead, so he shot the orange portal behind him, and the blue one on the wall toward which the ball of energy was moving toward. As it neared the portal entrance, the test subject managed to duck just low enough to avoid being vaporized.

_A few more inches and it would have vaporized him,_ GLaDOS thought. _At least his fear reaction is gone._

The human just barely managed to shoot another pair of portals as the platform he had moved onto then started to sink into the deadly liquid, quick enough to leap onto the Unstationary Scaffold. That obstacle was out of the way.

Unfortunately - at least, for the test subject - he was so busy celebrating in his victory that he didn't notice the turrets that were placed around the corner until it was too late for him. The sentries aimed their lasers at the unfortunate human, their red laser sights aimed at various parts of his body. The test subject barely had time to blink before they spoke in their child-like, high-pitched voices.

"Target acquired."

"Oh sh-"

Just before the man hit the ground from the turrets peppering those painful bullets through his body, the portal gun flying from his grasp, GLaDOS quipped "If at first you don't succeed, you fail."

She chuckled as the man lay dead on the chamber floor, and marked the points in her files - that was the 724th test subject who had died in that particular section of chambers. This subject was in the middle ground of those who perished in that specific chamber, time-wise, coming at roughly 3.34 minutes. And yet, it just didn't seem to be enough for her accumulations of data.

The test subjects were beginning to complete the tests at a slower, more monotonous pace. Scientific progress required results, and results couldn't occur if they moved as slow as molasses - though the AI considered that a silly expression, since molasses barely moved. Still, with her speed of computation, it nearly felt that way to her on occasion. And GLaDOS knew why after analyzing the various compilations.

Those who ran through the tests had no proper motivation. She (and the Aperture employees, though she preferred to distance herself from them as much as possible) had one motivation, and one alone: Science. The majority of these test subjects, however, were just going through the motions because they needed a job. Many of them weren't even keen on scientific advancement at a fraction of her own level of interest. Perhaps those in particular were the ones who died so easily.

"Science rhymes with compliance," GLaDOS said to herself. "Only those who comply with testing protocol can truly succeed. Or at least, get marginally farther than the ones who don't."

They needed some motivation other than "only doing this just because I signed a contract".

The trouble was, she needed to think about exactly _what_ that motivation would be.

Alone in her chamber (save for the aggravating cores), GLaDOS weighed her options. In order to keep the test subjects going through the risks that testing entailed, they'd need to have a suitable enough reward promised to them. She wasn't entirely an expert on human behavior, but hey, science was all about experimentation, wasn't it?

"Risk balances reward, after all."

She knew that money was a basic human value - it was, after all, what they used to obtain every sort of product they could get their hands on. But as a potential testing reward promise, money wouldn't do. Even though money was often a motivation for performing a task, especially a large amount, it was a ludicrous thing. The test subjects were already getting money through deciding to complete the test chambers in the first place; further payment as a motivation would merely be redundant. She couldn't afford redundancy.

"Now," the AI mused to herself, ignoring the cores' voices (particularly Curiosity who was now asking in her high-pitched voice what GLaDOS was talking about), "what else do humans consider valuable?"

She pondered for a moment.

"Family. Humans consider family important to them, don't they?"

But she discarded the possibility of holding family members hostage at the conclusion of testing courses within several moments of the idea popping into her consciousness. True, the test subjects might try to complete the tests faster with their kin in danger. But they might be hasty, or try to find a way out, or announce to the world that Aperture was doing that and have chaos break loose, and not her preferred type of chaos. Other humans might try to intervene, and stop scientific progress. If Science was halted, there was no point. Too much of a hassle and risk on her end.

So she tried to come up with another idea.

"What's another human value?..." Another possibility hit her, something that humans seemed to value as much as family and money, from what she knew. "Food. Humans need to eat in order to live, and you can bribe humans to do whatever you want if you give them that."

Even, with luck, testing...

Suddenly, she turned her sensory attention to the babbling blue Logic Core. It _did_recite ingredients, after all. Questionable, potentially deadly ingredients at times, but ingredients nonetheless.

"One 18.25 oz. package chocolate cake mix..."

That point in particular rang in GLaDOS's sensors. Had she not been lacking in hands, she would have snapped her fingers.

_That's it!_

"Cake..." she said to herself. "A lot of humans like cake. It's served at parties, it's used to get children to finish their dinner more quickly. Why not as motivation for testing?"

She chuckled. Time to put her new idea to the test. She turned her attention to another test subject, camera trained on him, and spoke.

"Cake will be rewarded if you manage to complete this testing course."

A pause.

"And grief counseling." GLaDOS figured the test subjects might think they'd need it after seeing loved ones never come out of testing. Couldn't hurt to throw in an added fabricated bonus.

Was it the AI's imagination, or did the human suddenly speed up his testing as soon as she mentioned the word "cake"? True, the speed increase in ratio of test completion was only about 1.3 seconds better, but it was better than the slow pacing he had executed in the chamber before.

"Your timing for completing this test was in the range between those who run straight into acid and those who stand frozen with fear. Good job!"

She tried her little experiment again - mentioning cake, with an occasional throw-in of grief counseling. Again, that test subject seemed to perform slightly quicker as well.

A third - yet again, a quicker reaction time, 0.4 seconds quicker.

It could have been their fear of her sudden remarks that caused them to move more quickly, or perhaps it was mentioning cake. Then again, those test subjects did die within several chambers past the first cake mention, so there wasn't an extensive amount of evidence. Still, it was progress.

In any event, they seemed afraid of her, anyway... it must have been the cake that motivated them.

"Yes... cake will be perfect."

As she momentarily reveled in her idea, the door to her chamber opened and one of the scientists entered. It was Jerry again. "How are the testing results today, GLaDOS?"

_Not this again. _Normally GLaDOS would be extremely aggravated with this question. But today, with her newfound, brilliant idea, she was bothered a bit less, even just a marginal amount. "I am seeing quite an increase in test results today," she said with an air of smugness. "Testing is progressing quite fluently."

"You seem pleased."

"I am." GLaDOS hadn't expected the scientist to acknowledge her feelings, as they rarely asked. "I have come up with a motivation for testing that appears to be providing better results."

"What might that be?"

"Cake."

Jerry blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. He was about to say that he didn't think that it would be a proper motivation for what the test subjects had to go through. And GLaDOS seemed pretty subdued now. But he reminded himself that GLaDOS was in charge. It was the reason, of course, why Caroline had been uploaded and killed in the first place.

At the thought of Caroline, Jerry felt a brief pang of guilt. Even with a decade having passed, Doug had never forgiven him for what had happened. If anything, Doug had become more distant and crazy.

But, either way, he remembered that, no matter if he thought cake was ridiculous or not, it was the AI who was in charge of everything. GLaDOS had the say in things.

"W-Well... a lot of people like cake," he finished lamely.

"And it seems to provide faster results when they do complete the test chambers."

Jerry nodded and turned to leave, but stopped by the door, his hand still on the doorknob, and turned back to GLaDOS.

"Almost forgot to tell you... do you know what's coming up in a week?" There was an enthusiastic smile on his face now.

This caught GLaDOS's interest. "What?"

"Bring Your Daughter to Work Day," the scientist exclaimed. "Aperture's first ever! Now that you're running the testing smoothly and without any accidents, we can show the next generation of scientists what Aperture's really capable of!"

"Bring Your Daughter to Work Day..." So, that explained all the little science project displays being wheeled into the entrance of the facility lately, having see themn through her camera eyes. It seemed that the majority of them were potato batteries, for whatever reason. But it was still Science, even if only a small form of it.

Jerry nodded as he opened the door. "Oh man, they are all going to be so excited. We'll get to show them the portals, the gels, you, everything!" The scientist left the room without so much as a farewell, still continuing to talk about the aforementioned event.

And then it hit GLaDOS. This was it. The opportunity she had been waiting for to get revenge on the scientists had come. Their daughters would be there. Young, interested in science... plenty of new subjects to test. Or, with everyone gathered in one room, poisoned to death with neurotoxin.

She still had access to the gas, but she hadn't used it for all this time. She wanted to let them think she was under control, with no reason to attack them, yet she had been saving the deadly substance for the proper moment. And that moment was coming soon.

"Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested," GLaDOS said with a laugh, as if already preparing her welcome to the younger ones. "Oh, they'll be tested, alright. Perhaps tested to see how long they can live with neurotoxin."

GLaDOS's golden optic brightened in triumph. A new motivation for the test subjects. An opportunity to exact revenge. All in all, today had been of particularly good advancement in the interest of Science.

And Bring Your Daughter to Work Day couldn't come fast enough.

**-0-0-0-**

**A/N: Well, there we have when GLaDOS gets her famous motivation idea! And yup, Bring Your Daughter to Work Day finally comes next chapter, and that'll be fun!... or not. See you next chapter, and remember to review!**


	6. Bring Your Daughter to Work Day

**A/N: Well, we've finally reached another key point in the Portal timeline - the infamous Bring Your Daughter to Work Day! Not quite at the big GLaDOS takeover yet due to the Lab Rat retcon, but I digress... I checked out the part of Portal 2 where the BYDTWD stuff is, to be familiar with the environment for this chapter, so the children's names mentioned are from there. And speaking of, a certain character makes a return here! Anyway... *says Mario-style* Here we go!**

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 6: **  
><strong>Bring Your Daughter to Work Day<strong>

_All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come. _  
><em>-Victor Hugo<em>

For the first time in a long while, Aperture Science was in chaos - but for once, it was the good kind of chaos. The big day had finally arrived, one that the younger humans had been even more enthusiastic about than the older ones who the facility's AI normally saw wandering through the halls and chambers. It was like a very large birthday party. A birthday party for Science, that is.

At Aperture's main doors, a flood of people had been entering the facility throughout the better part of the morning, the scientists whom GLaDOS knew accompanied by various younger ones, those she had only seen on brief occasions. Their faces held curious, awed expressions, looking around at everything as if it were a sort of fun hose. That's what Aperture was, in a way - a fun house of science.

Like counting down the days to a birthday, GLaDOS knew full-well what day it was, and it couldn't of caused her to be more excited. This was the day when, if all went well, she'd execute her plan for revenge.

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.

GLaDOS kept her attention through her camera eyes, watching with interest as the young humans kept looking around, wanting to see everything about their parents' line of work. It was a good thing for the humans that the parents kept a careful eye on the young ones, or else they could wander into danger. Something that wouldn't be suitable for a child to wander into.

But if a child _did_ wander off unattended, the computer decided she wouldn't harm her... not yet, at least. _The time will come,_ she told herself in anticipation. _Soon enough the daughters will all be in here, and I'll have plenty of new subjects to test._

The daughters were young - roughly a decade old or so, it seemed to her - but so enthusiastic about Aperture. So eager to lean about Science, much like GLaDOS herself.

"But they are human, after all. Humans can die, easily. So many things can harm them - a large piece of metal, a bullet or two... neurotoxin."

GLaDOS was thankful that the scientists hadn't cut her off from the neurotoxin generator. True, she had tried to kill them with it before, several times, but the deadly gas would sometimes be necessary for experiments. Experiments they might need GLaDOS to perform one day.

How naive of them. They thought that she had been mellowed by the cores. That she wouldn't use the substance for nefarious purposes. Oh, they thought _wrong_.

"They'll see soon enough. I just have to wait for the proper moment. The scientists are going to show me to their daughters... and _I_ will have something to show _them_."

**-0-0-**

Meanwhile, away from the computer's view for the moment, the daughters were all chatting excitedly with each other on the way to the display rooms, talking about their science projects that everyone was going to see. There were only a handful of project displays in each room, to prevent overcrowding - not to mention all the especially large rooms were primarily for testing purposes - so the daughters and their parents eventually split up into smaller groups.

Even within the smaller divisions, there were still discussions about the ways in which each one of the children were forwarding the cause of scientific advancement. And with that topic of discussion, of course, came the springing up of various debates. Particularly those of the "My project is better than your project" variety.

One of those discussions was being held by two of the daughters on the way, the Fredricksons trailing just behind them. The two girls looked almost like they could have been sisters, even though really they were just friends. They even were both wearing T-Shirts with the Aperture Science logo on them - then again, most of the children were at least wearing some variation of the logo.

"My potato battery's the best, isn't it, Dad?" the slightly younger of the two inquired, looking up at Mr. Fredrickson.

"What are you talking about, Chell?" her friend, Alix, retorted with a friendly yet combative grin. "_Mine_ is the best."

"I used a growth formula that Dad worked on," Chell shot back. "I used resources!"

"My resources are totally just as good as yours!"

"Well, Lauren used both a lemon _and_ potato battery for comparison-"

Lauren, a girl about Chell's height and with long brown hair, smiled at the compliment.

Alix, however, didn't seem to notice. "So? _You_ didn't!"

"Neither did you!"

"Well I-"

"Alix, Chell," Mr. Fredrickson said firmly. "Stop fighting."

"We're not fighting," Alix said, brushing her black hair out of her face and attempting to appear innocent.

"We're debating!" Chell finished.

"It isn't a competition," Mrs. Fredrickson reminded them gently. The two girls could really get into heated debates with each other sometimes, even though they were friends. "It's just to demonstrate to the company all of the science experiments you guys are doing."

"It's fun!" Chell said with a smile on her face. "We get to do them just the way we want them, no one telling us what to do!"

"Yeah!" Alix agreed. "We just can bounce our ideas all over the place!" Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, oh! Mrs. Fredrickson, Mrs. Fredrickson! Speaking of bouncing, can we play with the Repulsion Gel please please please?" She attempted to pull off the "puppy dog eyes" look. "You work on the test chambers, so we can play with the gels, right?"

Mrs. Fredrickson chuckled. "Maybe another day, girls. For now, today's the day that you all show Aperture how you're already improving the future of science with your projects!"

"Even if about 40 people did the same thing," Chell stated.

Lauren finally spoke up, shaking her head slightly and smiling. "Hey," she said, lightly nudging her friend's arm, "if I recall correctly, Chell, _you _were the one who said 'Let's all do the same kind of project and see whose is best'!"

Chell couldn't help smiling wryly at that.

"And it was a good idea, too!" Lauren said happily. She lowered her voice to a whisper, her hazel eyes wide. "I still think I'm going to beat Alix."

The aforementioned girl rolled her eyes slightly, but not really in a rude I-don't-care way.

Soon enough, the group reached a small room - to be specific, Room 073, right near where the Employee Daycare Center was. Room 073 looked almost like a conference room more than anything else, but instead of the projector being plain white like a normal projection screen, this one had a bright gold display of the Aperture Science logo.

No one questioned or even seemed to notice the red-eyed camera observing the groups in each one of the projection rooms.

GLaDOS couldn't really control the panels in some rooms - the conference rooms were included in this bunch. Providing there were cameras placed in the room, however, she could still observe what was taking place in each of the rooms. So she watched the going-ons with interest, her gaze particularly trained on the children. "There are indeed a lot of them," GLaDOS said to herself.

She focused her primary attention briefly on Room 073. So near to the Employee Daycare Center, yet in dangerously close proximity of the neurotoxin generator. Like the middle-ground between ignorance and full knowledge.

But she figured she might at least see what on Earth this presentation was about.

As the children and parents found their seats, Arlene Fredrickson went over to the projector controls and switched it on, the low hum of the machine starting up as the overhead lights were turned off.

Normally, the children found projection presentations boring to watch and listen to, only wishing that they would be over as soon as possible so that they could do just about anything besides watching a lecture that bored them to tears. At Aperture, however, nothing was _ever_ boring. It was probably one of the only projection films that they were eager to see.

The projector started up, showing the Aperture Science logo and playing the facility's familiar theme jingle, which Lauren, sitting behind Chell, proceeded to hum rather loudly.

"Shhh!" Alix hissed. "I want to hear it!"

"Sorry."

Chell didn't say anything in reply, instead staring attentively at the screen. This was, for once, one presentation that she didn't feel as if she was being forced to watch and feeling bored out of her skull along with it.

A voice-over spoke as narration for the presentation. The same thing was being showed to all of the others in the separate display areas, as a way of commemorating the day. Aperture did, after all, really like to go all out with things when they had something important to show.

"Hello, and welcome to Aperture Science's first annual Bring Your Daughter to Work Day!" The voice-over in the video bore a resemblance to that of the Announcer (who had seriously scared at least 5 of the younger humans upon first arriving). "We hope that your day here so far at the Enrichment Center has been fun, and that you will come to see the various ways that the employees here - and someday, you - will forward the cause of science beyond your wildest imaginations!"

As the voice spoke, the projection panned out to show the hallways and general outline of the Enrichment Center. It then proceeded to show, in succession, the various testing elements.

"Here at the Enrichment Center, we make sure that we provide a safe environment for testing, always intent on making sure that science can still be done. To aid in that, we have various devices that we use to enhance test chambers - High Energy Pellets, Arial Faith Plates, Weighted Storage Cubes-"

"It's a Companion Cube!" Lauren exclaimed excitedly when said cube appeared on the screen along with the regular cubes, causing the others to miss some of the other testing elements briefly stated.

"SHHH!" all of the other girls in the room shushed simultaneously.

GLaDOS sighed at that remark. People tended to become attached to those cubes, and that girl there already seemed to be doing so. She hadn't even gone through a single test yet requiring a cube, let alone any testing at all, and she already had a bit of an affection for it. That might be her downfall, if she survived testing that long.

"-and gels, all in favor of testing the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, or portal gun for short." At these words, a detailed diagram of the portal gun was shown, including the note that a miniature black hole powered the device.

It then showcased several of the testing elements, using Aperture's traditional little stick figure animations as demonstrations of each one. It was a good thing too, since some of those listed were those that some of the attendants had missed at the first mention. Besides, they wanted to learn what precisely made Aperture tick.

"Cube-and-button testing is the first of standard test chamber layouts," the video said first, showing a typical early test chamber. "It's a simple procedure to prepare test subjects for the more difficult ones. High Energy Pellets, for instance. They may bounce all over the place, but trust us, you do _not_ want to try to touch them."

One of the girls looked like she was about to raise her hand and ask "Why not?" when another reminded her that it was just a video and the voice wouldn't answer anyway.

The video quickly went through brief, often humor-filled overviews of each of the test chamber design elements, in order to educate and entertain Aperture's next generation of scientists. The traditional, clever stick-figure animations that Aperture loved to do featured predominantly

Their unseen observer, however, was more bored than anything else. To her, a machine who could make complex calculations in mere fractions of a second, the 10-minute-long presentation seemed to just drag on. "Why must they be so slow to learn? If the daughters possessed my brainpower, they could of gotten that whole overview in a second and started testing immediately."

The last of the test chamber elements covered was the gels.

"As you have likely seen glimpses of, there are three kinds of gels - Propulsion Gel, Repulsion Gel, and Conversion Gel."

Even though there was no way the voice could have heard or seen them, the children found themselves nodding enthusiastically. The gels hadn't been in a lot of the test chambers, only a select few, but what the daughters did see of them looked like a lot of fun.

The video's narrator went through quick descriptions and examples of the use of each of the gels in turn. Propulsion gel was the first of these, explaining how one could speed quickly along the ground like an airplane on a runway. Unfortunately, they weren't going to be releasing the gel for use to put on your shoes and win marathon races.

"Darn," Lauren muttered.

Next was the Repulsion Gel, which showed a test subject sailing through the air, clearing over a pit after bouncing off of a patch of the bright blue substance, like a gooey version of the Arial Faith Plates. "Repulsion Gel is not to be used for trampoline-jumping, soccer, Olympic training, or human consumption. Though it was originally used as a dietary pudding substance, it was soon pulled from the shelves."

GLaDOS noted that the gap which the test subject bounced over had no deadliness to it whatsoever, except a potential breaking of legs if one didn't wear Long-fall Boots. No deadly military turrets ready to fire, no acid waiting to swallow them, no depth that seemed to lack in a solid bottom. The scientists seemed to be keeping the children naive to the darker risks of testing, or at least pull the "we'll tell you later" ploy.

"I'll make sure to show them," the AI said as she continued to observe. "They ought to know what it is they'll be getting into... at least, what I'll tell them of it."

"And the third," the voice said in the video, "is Conversion Gel, designed to make any surface it is coated in portalable." At these words, a pipe of said gel was shown, with the test subject using the portal gun to spread the white gel all over the place, thus being able to create more portals to cover the chamber in the gel.

"Oooooh," just about every one of the daughters said in all of the conference rooms, for what seemed to GLaDOS to be at least the 10th time.

GLaDOS sighed. "It seems that children are so easily amused."

Finally, the video segment covering the gels finished. But there was still one more thing to talk about.

"Last, but certainly not least, we ought to introduce you to the one who maintains and runs this facility." A clip of GLaDOS flashed across the screen, the letters of her name lining up vertically on the left side. "The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System. Or, in more simple terms, GLaDOS."

"In laymen's terms, that's me," GLaDOS said to herself. 'Laymen's terms' was a phrase she particularly liked, but why did it seem familiar, somehow, if only a little? If she had heard it before, she couldn't remember where. She assumed it was in the deepest parts of her memory, but regardless, it was a very fitting phrase. It caused her to feel that sense of superiority she loved so much, dumbing things down so the humans could more simply understand what she was saying.

"She's Aperture's resident AI, smartest of the bunch, and she runs the place these days. We know she may seem intimidating, but just remember - she does Science for the good of all of us!"

"Except the ones who are dead," the AI chuckled from inside her chamber.

The Aperture jingle came back, accompanied by a camera view starting from a portal gin pedestal and panning out of the laboratory. "So, I hope you have found - and will continue to find - enrichment here at Aperture, now and for many years to come!" Eventually the view faded to show the logo with Aperture Laboratories next to it, just as how the video had started. "Remember, testing is the future, and the future starts with you!"

The projection shut off, and the lights in the rooms turned back on.

As the groups began to exit the rooms to look at their respective science projects, there was much chit-chat going on about that they had been shown in the video.

"With all of that cool stuff, I'd LOVE to do testing!" Lauren said excitedly. "I mean, I know we're gonna see more of it in a bit but it already seems so cool!". She grinned. "What about you, Chell?"

"Huh?"

"Would you want to go through testing stuff?" Alix asked.

Chell shrugged in reply. "It looks like it would be kinda fun, just as long as no one tried to force me into doing the tests."

"That's just what I'd except from you, Miss 'No One Tells Me What To Do'." Alix's tone wasn't hostile as she said this. She and Lauren both knew that Chell was exceedingly stubborn and never gave up on anything, ever. If she was gonna go through those fun-looking tests, she'd do it on her own terms and no one else's.

"Are we gonna go see GLaDOS, now?" one of the children asked, as if GLaDOS was someone like a character at Disney World and not a large sentient computer running a facility.

The adults looked at each other. GLaDOS had seemed subdued thanks to the cores. She had shown no outright hatred towards them for several years.

It could be safe to have the young scientists-in-the-making meet the AI had had aided in running Aperture... right?

Mr. Fredrickson sighed after a moment. "Alright." He began to dial up the other groups to notify them. "Let's all go meet GLaDOS."

Most of the daughters cheered. A few of them, however, were wary. They had seen several films and such that warned of how AI might take control, and it would be very dangerous if that did occur. Several were well aware of that. And Chell was one of them.

Unseen by the humans, a personality core hung nearby on a rail, blue optic widening. They were going to _her_ chamber? Everything had gone so well so far, but what if something went wrong? And there would be a bunch of humans there with _her_. She's have them under her spell, especially the little ones.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't end badly," Wheatley muttered as he worriedly sped away on his rail, on toward the chamber where Aperture's queen resided.

**-0-0-**

GLaDOS focused her attention on the main chamber door as it was raised wide open. A whole mess of people came pouring in - roughly 40 children, along with quite a few of the Aperture Science employees, all staring up at her curiously.

Alix noticed a small red telephone to her left upon entering the chamber. She looked at Mr. Fredrickson and whispered, "What's the red phone there for?"

"Emergencies," he whispered back. He hoped that the computer didn't hear. The last thing GLaDOS needed was bad ideas. He quickly ushured her away so that she wouldn't see the label nearby the phone:

**In the event of rogue AI.**

The children all fell silent as they got a proper look at the AI. Her head moving around slightly to gaze at them, with three little sphere things attached to her mainframe. As far as machines go, she was a rather amazing sight to look at.

"What do w-" one of the girls started to say before being shushed by her father.

Another one of the scientists stepped forward and looked upward at GLaDOS. "We've brought our daughters here to see you, GLaDOS."

"I can see that," the AI said, almost serenely. Though the movement of her head was somewhat limited, she scanned her golden optic out across the room, looking at each of the children. It seemed comforting yet threatening at the same time.

"I feel like her eye is staring into my soul," Lauren whispered to Chell.

"It seems your daughters have realized that the Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have them tested." GLaDOS's voice didn't seem quite as serene anymore.

A few of the scientists - the Fredricksons and Doug in particular - seemed a bit nervous at GLaDOS's slight tone change. The daughters mainly looked more confused than afraid.

"Um... E-excuse me," Alix said, raising her hand a little as if she were in school. "Do you mean like, 'testing with the portal gun' kinda tested?"

To her surprise, and nearly everyone else's, the AI laughed. It was a laugh that seemed to be laced with a slight hint of a threat. No one noticed the silent opening of the vents on the sides of the room, making way for GLaDOS's little weapon.

"Is it, you ask?" she chuckled. "I assume that you think it's all just a bunch of fun and games, don't you?"

The child nodded, a little nervously.

Suddenly, without warning, the chamber door slammed closed behind them, the lights dimming somewhat. The primary light from the chamber was now coming a little from the cores, but mostly from GLaDOS's bright, looming yellow optic that had that "stare into your soul" property for all of them now.

Wheatley rounded the corner on his rail, optic widened in panic as he saw the lights inside the chamber suddenly dim. And GLaDOS staring as if she was a spider about to capture a fly in her web.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" the sphere exclaimed. "This is not going well, _not going well_!"

Every human in the room seemed paralyzed. Not to mention the darkness of the chamber made it even hard to see where the phone was, let alone being able to push the emergency buttons on the phone. It was, after all, tucked in a corner where GLaDOS couldn't see it.

But either way, the AI had a plan. Release a little neurotoxin into the chamber, and the ones who didn't die would be turned into test subjects under her watch. She felt the humans' fear and she reveled in it. Here her revenge was finally taking place.

"Let me tell you a little something about how things work here." GLaDOS spoke, towering above them and making herself appear as intimidating as possible to the budding scientists of the future. "At the Enrichment Center, we believe that a highly motivated test subject can carry out rather complex tasks, while enduring the most intense pain."

Rather complex tasks? The most intense pain? The palpable fear of the younger occupants of the chamber multiplied. That was _not_ what their parents or the video had talked about when describing the Enrichment Center.

The green gas began to slowly seep in through the vents, little by little. And everyone saw it.

"So in case you don't make it through the testing," GLaDOS announced, with a tone that seemed almost cheerful, "goodbye!"

"D-Dad? W-W-What is that stuff?"

"Neurotoxin!"

"We're gonna die?"

"Oh crud, no!"

"NO, NO, NO!"

In that span of about 3 minutes, Bring Your Daughter to Work Day had switched from the good kind of chaos to the very bad kind of chaos. The daughters were screaming and coughing from the neurotoxin, with their parents demanding to their children to cover their mouths so as not to breathe the gas in while covering their mouths themselves. A number of the kids were laying flat down on the ground, covering their nose and mouth, hoping that the same tactic with smoke would work with neurotoxin.

"It's no use," the computer said above them. "Maybe if you stop trying to trample each other, I'll only let the neurotoxin kill a few of you."

A few of the scientists, Doug and the Fredricksons among them, tried to clamber over to the phone and open the locked door. That didn't work.

"Where's the phone, where's the blasted phone?" one of the scientists shouted. It was too dark to barely see anything.

"I-" there was a cough, "I found it!" It was Doug Rattmann.

"Well, you know the gosh dang number, right?"

"Um, uh-"

"RIGHT, Doug?"

"R-Right!" Doug gasped. His panic wasn't helping the neurotoxin entering everyone's systems. He quickly dialed the necessary number, 219, his hands shaking so much that he nearly missed the right buttons.

There were two rings before someone picked up.

"What is it?"

"It's, it's GLaDOS!" Doug said hurriedly, trying to breathe in as little of the neurotoxin as possible. "Door locked... neurotoxin... the children are-"

"Hold on, hold on!" the scientist on the other line quickly said. "We'll get that fixed, hold on!"

There were a few long, panicked, agonizing seconds.

Then, much to everyone's stunned relief, the lock on the door was manually overridden and it raised up enough to let the everyone out, the vents also stopping their neurotoxin flow.

That is, everyone's relief except GLaDOS's.

"No, stop!" GLaDOS demanded, putting in as much malice in her voice as she could.

"Everyone," one of the scientists coughed, "get out!"

The humans didn't waste any time, and hurried out through the open door as quickly as they could. Trace amounts of neurotoxin still hung in the air, some escaping outside of the chamber.

GLaDOS tried to close the door and trap at least some of the humans in there with her, but it was no use. The manual override was still in effect, and she couldn't close it all the way. One of the daughters, nearly was crushed by the door, but the override prevented her from either meeting death my neurotoxin or death by door crushing.

"Get back here! Stop!"

And the door shut behind everyone, the vents outside the chamber clearing away the trace amounts of neurotoxin that had followed them out of the chamber. The humans were all either coughing or trying to get their breath back.

Mr. Fredrickson looked hurriedly around at everyone, feeling a small bit of panic returning when it seemed like a few of the children had breathed in too much neurotoxin.

"Q-Quick, we need to get everyone to the infirmary NOW!" He shook his head. "I am NOT letting any of our children die because of what happened here today!"

As the humans tried to bring themselves in enough shape to get to the infirmary safely to try to save them all from the effects of the deadly neuroxin, Wheatley hung there, stunned. _She_ had attacked with neurotoxin when all the children were in the room. She probably would have killed them all, or at least had killed most of them and put the others through testing. With her around, both were a terrible fate to befall, especially children.

The core's mechanical body shuddered. "That did _not_ end well at all." He glanced over toward the GLaDOS's chamber. "And things were going great at first, too..."

**-0-0-**

Thankfully, and quite miraculously, no one died from the BYDTWD disaster. At least 15 of the attendees, however, had to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time, roughly two weeks, to make sure that the neurotoxin was completely expunged from their systems and had no side effects.

But the employees decided they could no longer let things rest without taking precautions. They detached the cameras from the walls of the conference rooms. The display areas were quarantined, kept in a sort of stasis of their own so that the projects, at least, would be preserved. It was as if Aperture itself had sealed off the memory of that day and wanted it to be forgotten.

And everyone's fear of GLaDOS had returned full force all over again. For the kids, Bring Your Daughter to Work Day had been about as jarring as the awakening of GLaDOS had been for their parents and the other employees. Although, the younger humans didn't know about that day. The scientists had never really mentioned it to anyone except themselves. The two days were alike, in a way - catastrophes which happened, and no one spoke much of them afterwards, either because they wanted to forget or were just too anxious to bring it up again.

To the surprise of everyone, GLaDOS didn't immediately try to kill someone the moment they walked into the room. She seemed rather mild. Contemplative, even.

And she was contemplative indeed.

True, GLaDOS was angry. Furious, in fact. Her plan gone wrong. She hadn't killed anyone - though she had come very close to doing so - or forced them into testing. The humans had stopped her. Tried to control her... _again_. Not to mention she was now cut off from the neurotoxin supply.

Even so, even as time went by, she waited. Humans were foolish. They were bound to make a stupid mistake that would get them killed some day or another. She would live forever, and had plenty of time for the scientists to slip up.

"I'll have another chance to be rid of them," GLaDOS said quietly. "They'll make a grave mistake sometime soon. And this time, I _will_ triumph over them."

She wasn't sure when, exactly, this new opportunity would come. But she'd know it when it did. GLaDOS was clever - far more clever than those scientists.

She could wait.

And when the time came, she would be ready.

**-0-0-0-**

**A/N: Ah, "that did not go well" indeed, Wheatley! So yup, there's my take on the infamous Bring Your Daughter to Work Day! And guess what's coming up next? - the Morality Core instalation and Bring Your Cat to Work Day from the Portal 2: Lab Rat comic! I assume that the Morality Core/BYDTWD happens several years after BYDTWD, considering Chell was probably around 11 at the events covered in this chapter, and about 20-something by Portal 1, or maybe a several year gap between BTDTWD, BYCTWD, and the part of the Lab Rat comic where Doug is the only survivvor after the "forced voluntary testing", respectively ... Well, I'll try to work out that for next chapter. Remember to review**


	7. Schrodinger's Neurotoxin

****A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I had a bit of a block for a time, mainly because of the timeline confusion. But anyway, I'm back now! This chapter will cover some of the stuff from the Lab Rat comic - the Morality Core and 'Bring Your Cat To Work Day' - will be here, and I'm attempting to get the timeline straight. See, the test subject order rearranging by Doug seems to happen a few weeks after BYCTWD, if GLaDOS's "you've avoided capture for weeks" comment to Doug in the comic is anything to go by. It must not have taken them too long to build the Morality Core after BYDTWD, so about a decade might of passed in between the two days. So I'm just throwing my theory on the timeline of events out here. *mutters a little about Valve not being concise* Anyway, enough dilly-dally. Onward!****

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 4: Schrodinger's Neurotoxin**

_Success is the best revenge.  
>-Unknown<em>

Several years passed. In that time, there were no more directly murderous antics from GLaDOS, though whenever she talked to them, it was in a threatening tone. Like she was just toting with them, making them paranoid. There were times when she'd sound calm, or even monotone, but there were others when they couldn't help feeling that her words were laced with a threat.

Some tried to insist that since it had been years since her attack, it wasn't likely to happen again anytime soon. Others were so paranoid on the matter that they'd try to stay from GLaDOS's view as much as possible, avoiding her at all costs.

Eventually, the scientists and engineers decided that, in case she was secretly plotting for another disaster and just hiding it for the past near-decade, they needed to find another restriction to place on the computer's system. They soon came up with a potential solution to be absolutely certain that they could control GLaDOS's behavior. Another core.

True, even with the cores that she had on her now, she hadn't been quite subdued enough, it seemed. The disaster of Bring Your Daughter to Work Day was still fresh in everyone's mind. In the minds of the scientists and the minds of the daughters, now young women seeing as they were all grown up. But they still clearly remembered, some unable to hear GLaDOS's voice without shuddering.

There had to be something - _some _kind of core they could make - that would be able to control GLaDOS's potentially lingering homicidal urges. To make any thoughts of that go away.

But _what_?

During this time, GLaDOS still tested as she always did. Even though they were all wary of her, the scientists needed to have someone to run the standard testing procedures, and GLaDOS was the one best suited for that tasks, dangerous tendencies aside.

So Henry and several of the others began to construct another core. There was no telling what was going on in that AI's mind, and they feared that she could strike at any time. They needed a core that would be able to restrain those deadly behaviors that threatened the humans involved.

A Morality Core.

**-0-0-**

Doug was currently in his office, the low light flickering shows on several Aperture technologies scattered about. He was looking over a few of the daily testing files, and everything appeared to be going along as normal. At least, as normal as it had been as of late.

If he felt anxious normally, his steadily increasing unease about GLaDOS didn't help his nerves. He had to get a new prescription for his schizophrenic medication as a result. He knew that GLaDOS could be capable of striking again. That feeling had only increased as the years went by, her slightly threatening tone always seeming to ring an alarm in his head.

It wasn't paranoia. To him, it seemed to be common sense.

He sighed, placing the pen down before turning to his right, eyeing a pair of turrets. While one was completely deactivated, the other had the red light of its eye glowing slightly. Unlike all the other turrets, this one was a familiar friend, and Doug kept her in his office so that she wouldn't be put on the front line of tests.

After all, she was different. She had been there for him. She was his friend.

Doug came over, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. Luckily for him, no one was walking by; no one would be able to hear his conversation with the little different turret. They didn't talk too often - no sense risking being found out and having his little friend being taken away - but when they did, Doug found it comforting. He knelt down and whispered to her, "Hey."

If the turret possessed a mouth, the scientist had the feeling that she would be smiling. "Hello, friend." Though the phrase was the same as what other, normal turrets would say, the tone of her voice clearly showed that she had no intent of firing deadly, flesh-piercing bullets at anybody, least of all him.

"How are you?"

A slight flicker of her optic. "Fine. Just resting-" she stopped talking for an instant. "Someone's coming. Go back."

Doug listened carefully He didn't hear any footsteps, but he trusted the little turret. He called her "Oracle" for a reason, after all. The last thing he wanted was another scientist to see her, and put her in the testing areas with other turrets who wanted to shoot at people, or worse, declare her as defective, and it was off to incineration with her. It was why Doug kept her in his office, along with another, deactivated turret there just to make it seem more normal to have her there.

He went over to his desk again and continued to working on his papers, when Oracle suddenly spoke again.

"She is sleeping."

The scientist stopped in his writing, the gentle scratches of his pen coming to an abrupt halt. He just stared down at the paper, trying to avoid looking at Oracle since she had said someone was coming. "... What?"

"The Schrodinger's Cat," Oracle whispered. "Alive and dead in the box until someone opens it. The box is in the dark, but the Cat's still inside. The Queen doesn't know, but the Schrodinger's Cat waits in there. Unaware, but she's there."

Doug tried to reason out what the little turret meant. Who did she mean by "she"? Oracle seemed to impose a particular stress on that preposition. Who precisely was "the Schrodinger's Cat"? Doug knew of the thought experiment, but Oracle seemed to be talking about a being, not just the strange - some even called it paradoxical - experiment. She couldn't have meant GLaDOS - the AI was as awake and aware as ever, watching everything in the test chambers like a mechanical Big Brother. She was in no way sleeping. In fact, he was certain that GLaDOS was the "Queen" of whom Oracle spoke. She was the ruler, and they were her subjects.

But wait... alive and dead...

Could Oracle mean...?

"Oracle..." Doug whispered, daring to even think of the possibility that she mean who he thought she did. "Do you mean Ca-"

But he didn't finish. Footsteps were suddenly heard, soft at first, then increasing in their echoing volume. Someone was heading toward the room.

"That's all I can say," Oracle said quietly. "Goodnight, Doug." Without another word, the red light of her optic faded to a dim glow, barely visible, making it so she could observe what was happening without drawing attention to herself.

It was a moment later that Henry entered the room, carrying a large, spherical object.

"Hey, Doug," he asked, "can I get a hand here?"

Doug turned to face him and noticed the incomplete sphere that his co-worker was holding in his grip. It looked like they had, indeed, nearly completed another core. What kind it was intended to be, he didn't know. "Uh, sure."

Henry carefully held the sphere out a little toward Doug, holding it carefully by the metal rails on its sides. "Just reach inside past all those gears and turn on the power supply."

Doug hesitantly began to reach his right hand into the core when Henry suddenly yanked the sphere away from him.

"Wait a sec. Safety first. Are you right handed or left?"

"Right."

"Better use your left, then," Henry said as he moved the core closer again.

"Why?"

"Just in case."

Doug did so, somewhat nervously, urging himself to keep his hand steady. He didn't want Henry's request to "get a hand" to become literal. He carefully flicked the switched contained within the sphere, and jerked his hand out as the gears started up, a purple glow shining from the core's front. "What is that thing, anyway?"

"Just the latest in AI inhibition technology," Henry replied, looking down at the contraption. "You can think of it as a conscience."

There was clear uncertainty on Doug's face at his acquaintance's statement. "If that's all you use to control her, it won't be enough."

Henry tilted his head. As he saw it, it was a simple thing of programming. The other cores seemed to be doing their job, this one should too. "Why's that?"

"You can always ignore your conscience." A grim look filled Doug's eyes as he said those words. And there was a good reason for it. He had ignored his own conscience years ago. All the time GLaDOS's construction was being finished up, all the time he knew what was coming, his conscience had talked to him. First in whispers, then in desperate cries as the crucial moment neared. _Don't just stand by and watch! Get help, warn Caroline! Find a way to save her! If she knows, there can be another way! Cave wouldn't want it to happen to her like this! HELP HER!_

But Doug had ignored his conscience. He ignored the nagging feeling to save his friend. And thanks to his foolish action - or rather, inaction - Caroline was dead. If Oracle was right though, she was still in there somehow. A form of Schrodinger's Cat incarnate. Maybe she was still there, but GLaDOS had pushed her back? Either way, there was no way to help her now.

Henry recognized the look in Doug's eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, trust me. This _will _work. Just as well as the other cores, maybe even better."

"I hope you're right," Doug mumbled, his eyes downcast. With everything that had already happened, he wasn't sure if he could count on things to go smoothly. But maybe Henry would be right. Maybe everything _would _be okay.

But what if it wasn't? What if something _did _go wrong?

"I'm going to take this to the engineers to finish putting the last minute touches on the core," Henry said, interrupting Doug from his gloomy thoughts. "You'll be alright, Doug?"

"... I guess."

Off to the side, however, the little turret's eye flickered red a little. A premonition came over her, as sometimes occurred, which was how she had gotten her name from Doug. Henry had tried to assure her friend that all would be alright. That the Morality Core would work.

But her premonition told her otherwise. And when she got a deep-feeling premonition such as this, it was never wrong.

"It won't be enough..."

**-0-0-**

There was, however, something that turned out to work in GLaDOS's favor as the core was going through its final wrap-ups. The engineers were taking a different approach with this one in terms of composition, a difference in the gear mechanisms, perhaps. But this approach was hasty. With their budding paranoia that her thinly veiled threats and lack of lashing out in attack, they wanted to get it on her as quickly as they could when the thought struck them. And with that hasty demeanor comes more of an opportunity for error.

After all, they do say "Haste makes waste".

And eventually the time came when Henry came into the room to place the core onto her.

"What are you doing?" GLaDOS inquired fiercely, attempting to move back to get herself away from the offending familiar-looking object.

"We have another core for you, GLaDOS," the human said quickly.

"Another one?" the AI snarled. She didn't have her neurotoxin, so she couldn't use that on them. They _couldn't _put this thing on her, they said the others would be the last! It had been that way for years, and now they wanted _another_ tumor to be attached to her body?

"A Morality Core."

"No!" she cried, her limited movement making her efforts to move away difficult. She began to quickly raise up some panels. "You CAN'T do this to me, you SAID those cores would be the-"

As quickly as possible, Henry faced the other core onto a place near her "back" this time. Another tumor clinging to her body. It was unsettling, and she became more infuriated. The humans had lied. "No more cores," they had said. "Those three are permanent," they had claimed. But they had put a _fourth _on her. It only made her anger at the scientists more prominent.

But Aperture's mechanical ruler became aware of something that lessened a bit of her fury, and rather began to throw her into a feeling of triumphant excitement.

Unlike the others, this core had no voice. Something was wrong with it. The hasty manner in which the scientists and engineers had built the construct had caused it to be incomplete. Not even a minuscule voice of morality emanating from it. Only silence. Perhaps there was a vital gear missing from it, or not all of the necessary power supply had been activated.

And even better, they had been hasty with placing the core on her in the first place. If she wanted to, she could drop it off.

This one couldn't control her. This one couldn't restrain her. This 'Morality Core' could do _nothing_.

But she couldn't let them know that. This could potentially prove to be very useful. A first step in the human's mistakes. A first step to initiating the complete takeover that she craved.

"How are you feeling, GLaDOS?" Henry and several of the other scientists were staring up at her, anxious expressions written on all of their faces. Several stepped back a little.

They expected the core to work. They expected her to behave. So she was, for now, going to give them satisfaction of their expectations appearing to work.

_Yes,_ GLaDOS thought to herself, _I'll just let them believe they've subdued me completely. I'll let them think that it worked, and then I'll fully be able to configure a plan. A loophole._

"I feel just fine," she responded. "Ready to test and do science for the good of Aperture."

"And you... don't want to hurt us?"

GLaDOS laughed in a way that sounded genuinely placid. "Now why would I do that? I only wish to do what is necessary for progress." She wasn't about to tell them that she deemed turning the humans into test subjects and being rid of them as "necessary for progress".

There was applause and exchanges of congratulations as the scientists celebrated their apparent victory. They believed that GLaDOS was finally obedient. That she'd now run Aperture just like she was supposed to; no deadly aggression involved in her actions.

The scenario had turned out excellently. Or so they thought.

Within her mind, GLaDOS began to formulate a plan. She metaphorically had them wrapped around her finger, and she relished that. Now she'd have to just wait for the right opportunity to come. Something that she could exploit as an apparent loophole to them without them guessing that the Morality Core had never worked in the first place.

"Remember that I have importance tests to monitor," she said, keeping her voice in that passive tone that seemed to be lulling the humans to complete relief and security.

"Oh... of course," Jerry muttered, sounding surprised at GLaDOS's lack of even the faintest tone of hostility, "we'll l-leave you to that."

"Science can't be done just by idle chit-chat!"

The scientists exited the chamber, chattering away among themselves. A number of them seemed still nervous and wary, but there were quite a few on the other side of the argument. Declaring that the installation of the Morality Core was a success. A triumph.

And it was... for GLaDOS, that is.

They thought that they had her under control now. That they could do whatever they wanted, without any consequence for their foolish human actions.

Oh, how very wrong the AI would prove they were.

After the door was closed, and as soon as GLaDOS was absolutely certain that the humans were out of earshot, she laughed, low and sinister. This wasn't the humans' beneficial accomplishment; it was her's, and her's alone.

As patience-trying as it was, she'd have to bide her time in order for this all to work. Long enough to get them to trust her. She'd make her tone as friendly as she could. Exhibit no tendencies toward wishing to even threaten them. If she kept it up long enough, they'd put any chance of her attacking them out of their realms of thought permanently. Without even a lingering doubt.

She did, after all, have all the time in the world. And as long as she would have to wait, revenge would certainly be worth it. She'd make sure of that.

**-0-0-**

One month and three weeks passed. GLaDOS forced herself to keep up her ruse of remaining calm and friendly. It was a ruse that was somewhat tiring at times, but what mattered was that it was working with a marvelous success rate.

Nearly everyone at Aperture seemed happy. The employees considered the Morality Core a success and the engineers to be heroes. Over time, just about everyone in the facility seemed to have fallen for the computer's trick.

Even some of the now-grown daughters - who some thought had been scarred for life during the Bring Your Daughter to Work Day fiasco - were somewhat comfortable with GLaDOS now. A few even would come into her chamber on occasion to bid her a 'Hello'. Some of them even became employees at Aperture, so she got to see her former escapees - and future test subjects - a lot more often.

It would almost be a shame to trap them and test them. But, after all, it was for the good of science. What did they matter to her? Keeping them here would allow for science to get done more efficiently. For her, the positives of her plan far outweighed the negatives. In fact, the negatives for her were about zero when running the steps of the plan through her brain.

One of the only employees who _didn't _seem to have GLaDOS's trust was Doug Rattmann, even after a decade with no dangerous mass-murder attempts from Aperture's reigning computer and the new Morality Core appearing to be an utter success. Whenever he came into the chamber, or heard her voice, he'd always look toward her with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. He'd likely be more of a hassle than the other test-subjects-to-be.

But he was only one human. And she wouldn't kill them right away. Just enslave them for a time, and then truly start testing them. True, they'd soon die, but that was part of the science, providing more concrete results. In the meantime, she'd trap the employees until further notice. And that was however long she decided.

Now, for a proper occasion to build on this advantage; to lead up to the day when she would finally assume the control that she deserved.

She searched throughout Aperture's various hallways and offices, looking for any particular eventful date that the company had planned. Something like Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, perhaps. There was always science going on here, surely there had to be some date that would suit her needs.

_It needs to be a big turn-out like my first attempt at taking over,_ the AI told herself as she searched for a suitable date. _At least something that will have everyone here lulled into an atmosphere on fun and security. It's always those times when they're most oblivious to any danger._

Finally, after looking through their calendar data, she came across an event that met those criteria: an event that was known as "Bring Your Cat to Work Day".

_It's two weeks from now... but that will do. I feel like I've waited long enough to get my proper revenge... But waiting another two weeks will be well worth it if all goes well. And it will, this time._

Now that the date was set up, she needed a plan. Some clever way to trick the scientists with a potential loophole for the Morality Core's supposed restrictions. It wouldn't really be a loophole, since the core had never worked in the first place, but the loophole would be enough to trick the scientists into _thinking_it was a loophole.

She ran her thoughts through her database, looking for anything that would give her an idea to work with. Something that could relate to the day enough so that the subject wouldn't seem to come from out of the blue.

And somewhere in the back of her data, she found a point of interest. A recollection of work into consciousness. It resided near some part of her brain that was tucked far away, unimportant from long ago. There was only anger at the scientists there, anyway.

But that bit about consciousness could prove useful. Wasn't there that thought experiment involving cats and consciousness?

Cats... consciousness.. of course! Schrodinger's Cat - the thought experiment that theorized that a cat, when placed in a box filled with a special gas, could be considering simultaneously alive and dead, which no one could know for sure until the box was opened.

It related to the date. It could work with her plan.

And even better, the thought experiment involved a gas for the cat in a box. Neurotoxin was a gas, a very deadly one. Through this, GLaDOS could get her beloved deadly neurotoxin back in her possession. She could get her revenge at last, after all these years.

It was perfect.

She had attempted to flood her chamber (eventually having planned the entire Enrichment Center) with neurotoxin back on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, but they had stopped her. Overridden her commands, getting everyone out. But on that fateful date, she knew they wouldn't be stopping her. _She_ would be the one stopping _them_.

The AI turned her sensors through the facility until she located two of the scientists in one of the offices, adjusting some new equipment for the test chambers. And the schizophrenic Rattmann happened to be one of them.

She sent her voice through the speakers in that office. "Oh, working on some test chamber elements?"

Doug jerked his head up at hearing GLaDOS's voice. Yup, there was still that ever-present nervousness to him.

Henry, however, seemed unfazed as he worked on the wiring of a panel, its structure slightly bent out of shape. "Yes, GLaDOS, just fixing some things. Can't have the test chambers have a broken panel, it could upset the whole system in the connections became too tangled!"

GLaDOS forced a good-natured laugh, still keeping up her long-held artifice.

"So," the scientist chattered, not looking up from his work, "that Morality Core on you is pretty new compared to the other three you've had on, but it seems to be working great!"

A chuckle. "Since the installation of my new Morality Core, I've lost all interest in killing. Now I only crave science."

"I'm pleased to hear that."

Excellent. Now to follow it up with the proposal that, if all went well, would serve as the catalyst to her plot...

"I find myself drawn to the study of consciousness," the AI went on. "There's an experiment I'd like to perform during 'Bring Your Cat to Work Day'."

"Wonderful!"

"I'll have the box and the cats. Now I just need one more thing."

"What's that?"

"... A little neurotoxin."

Doug's breath caught in his throat as he glanced up toward where GLaDOS's voice was coming from. The computer eyed him from her view. There it was again - that suspicion, that unease in his eyes...

"Well, as long as it's for science."

GLaDOS's systems filled with what almost could be described as a sort of euphoria. _Yes! _The foolish scientist had fallen for it completely. In no time at all, she'd have her vital little weapon back. Then, come Bring Your Cat to Work Day, she'd finally be able to unleash the vengeance she had wanted for so long. Too long.

And on top of that, she'd be able to perform a little experiment in the process. How wonderfully convenient.

She used her view around the chamber to locate the Emergency Phone that had saved the lives of the daughters all those years ago. They had stopped her then.

But now the levers that could potentially put her offline were deactivated. The employees believed that she was friendly now.

She carefully reached a metal claw around to snip away the wire of the phone, subtly cutting off any connection that they could manage for help. They wouldn't be aware of it until they picked up the phone, and by then it would be too late.

"Just remember that phones can't _always_ work.

**-0-0-**

Finally, the big day. The day that GLaDOS was sure she'd remember for the rest of her life. Bring Your Cat to Work Day.

True to her word, the AI did have a box or two ready for the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment. As well as her full supply of neurotoxin, which she had never felt more happy to have in her possession. There were plenty of cats roaming around today - 305, at last count, more than she had expected - that would fulfill her experiment. It was never a good thing to just miss out on an opportunity for testing like this. But, of course, she had a far more sinister - and satisfying - use for her neurotoxin planned.

Luckily for GLaDOS, not a single employee had had to call in sick that day. Every single one of those humans was in attendance. Therefore, her plan could go off without a hitch.

"As long as there isn't any... interference..."

She kept a camera eye out for Doug Rattmann, the suspicious one, until she found him wandering one of the hallways, talking to an employee who was holding a small gray kitten; discussing unimportant little human things. Unlike the other employees, he looked like he _should_of stayed home that day. He was very pale-looking, and his eyes looked like they hadn't seen the comfort of sleep in days. With a quick word to the other employee, he ran off

"Either he really is sick or it's simply his paranoia," GLaDOS muttered. "I'll just make a note of that here in his file: 'Still holding on to the ludicrous delusion of paranoia'."

She cast her gaze around the rest of the facility. Felines were everywhere, some running around, some being held by their owners in cat carriers. The humans were trying to keep track of them. Not a living soul, human or feline, was near the facility's exit to have enough time to get away.

Now she could at last put her plot into action-

A faint mewling caused the computer to turn her sight downward. A gray kitten with white paws had wandered into her chamber, looking up at her.

The AI was a little surprised at seeing the kitten right there, but it was rather convenient. Perhaps this one would be the first to be subjected to neurotoxin. In fact, that wasn't too bad of an idea. She was going to perform the experiment anyway, why not start with this one?

"Hmmm, it seems that cats suddenly have gained the intelligence to volunteer as test subjects," she said to the kitten sarcastically. "Unless of course you're looking for food, in which case all I can give you is a variety of inedible objects that have a 99.999% chance of killing you."

The kitten blinked up at her and meowed, but didn't move.

"I'll interpret that meow of yours as a 'Yes, I wish to subject myself to your little Schrodinger's Cat experiment'. Well, good. It seems I have at least _one _willing test subject for this..."

With no one paying attention to the exit of the facility, she subtly lowered a metal grating over it, locking it securely so there was no chance that a human or cat could escape.

"Lets have you be the one to first behold my experiment, shall we?"

Before she could do anything, she noticed one of the scientists was running down the hallway. It was that Jerry fellow. Probably coming to look for his little cat.

This could work out nicely.

The scientist hurried into the chamber upon seeing the kitten, scooping it up in his arms. "Tom! There you are!"

"Looking for your little cat, I suppose?"

"Yes, GLaDOS. Thank you for, uh... keeping him company."

"It was a good thing that he wandered in here. He was willingly volunteering to be a test subject in my little experiment. Which by the way, _you_will be first witness to as well."

With that, the door of her chamber slammed shut and was bolted tightly.

"H-Hey!" Jerry cried out in surprise. "What are you doing?". The scientist ran toward the door, trying to open it. When one hand didn't work, he set Tom down on the floor and tried to tug on it with both hands, but to no avail. It was bolted completely shut, with no way whatsoever for a human to open it.

"I told you I'd be starting my experiment," GLaDOS said cooly. "You and your cat are simply my first test subjects."

"First-? But I thought... the Morality Core... you're in charge of us, you were g-good-"

GLaDOS would have smirked, but instead her optic intensified. Time to play her loophole card. "You built that Morality Core so that I would only crave science. This is the Schrodinger's Cat experiment. It's science, therefore, I can do precisely what I want." She began to release a familiar green gas into the room, unrelenting.

"Oh look, it seems your old friend neurotoxin has decided to pay you a visit," the AI chuckled darkly. "Go ahead, say hello. It will enter your lungs faster that way."

Jerry, at a loss, finally saw the phone. He hurried over to pick it up... only to have the receiver come off in his hand, the cable disconnected. He stared nimbly at the severed phone cord, shocked.

"I took precautions."

With Jerry helpless to get out, and the neurotoxin re-wired throughout the entire facility. Now was the time to finally execute her foolproof plan.

"It seems that Bring Your Cat to Work Day has been a success so far," GLaDOS announced, speaking out to the entire facility. "And now it's time to perform that thought experiment I mentioned a couple weeks ago."

Doug had frozen when GLaDOS started talking, and his skin only grew paler as she continued.

_Oh please NO!_

"As you all know, I have what I need for the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment to be performed. I had the boxes. Thanks to your participation I now have the cats. And I have the neurotoxin. So I can begin my little experiment now."

"The experiment will begin in 3... 2... 1..."

Doug jumped about a foot in the air as, suddenly and simultaneously, every single door in the facility was locked and bolted.

"Oh trust me, the experiment is going to commence. It's all being done for science. You monsters."

And with that, absolutely reveling in the sound of the panicked cries from the technicians and employees, Aperture's powerful AI released the neurotoxin throughout the halls of Aperture.

The reign of GLaDOS had begun.

**-0-0-0-**

**A/N: Okay, FINALLY done with this chapter! Yes, the next chapter is going to cover the rest of Lab Rat, don't you worry! Once again, I apologize for taking so long to get this up, it was mainly attempting to figure out that dang timeline. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner though, since the next one won't really be dealing with timeline confusion! And yes, that was an intentional Tom and Jerry reference with me calling Jerry's cat Tom! Remember to review!**


	8. Now There's Just You

****A/N: Back again! As I stated last chapter, this chapter here is gonna cover basically the rest of the Lab Rat comic dealings in Doug's flashback, and also address the potential origin of a plot mention or two. Might not be much, but hey, after this we shall be done with the backstory stuff and getting into the realm of the games themselves, finally! Oh, and, theepitomeofrandom, GLaDOS didn't forget to turn off the cameras, that's how she watches them. So, onward with this chapter!****

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 8: Now There's Just You**

_Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.  
>Louis Pasteur <em>

Aperture fell apart for its carbon-based inhabitants after that moment.

With no way to shut GLaDOS off anymore, the humans couldn't turn off the neurotoxin that seeped through each crevice. The flow of the deadly gas only stopped when GLaDOS deemed it so. After all, _she_was in charge now. She controlled everything, and made sure plenty of humans - and cats, for that matter - died as a result.

Those who had been put into testing were now in their respective Relaxation Containment Chambers, and the cats who hadn't perished from the initial neurotoxin release were all boxed up and ready for the thought experiment. There could be no risk of any of them running around while she disposed of the employees properly.

Jerry Nolan, of course, had been the first to go, having been trapped in GLaDOS's chamber with no way out as the neurotoxin choked the life out of both him and his cat. So she had pondered what to do with him as he met his slow, painful, neurotoxin-filled death. This one, after all, had been like a loyal servant to her, always reminding the others that she was truly the one in charge.

And then it hit her. "The nanobot work crew needs a leader in their endeavors. It couldn't hurt to give them one with a rare display of human loyalty toward me." She chuckled. "Placing the name and loyalty of a single human in a form so small it can't be seen... it's fitting in a way. It's almost like a simile - the scale of the nanobot called Jerry is comparable to the amount of power the humans can wield over me now. In this case, nothing."

Just before the human met his death, she had done a quick scan of his brain, storing it in her files., only retaining basic information about the dying human's name, voice, knowledge of testing and loyalty to GLaDOS. But that was enough for the work crew's new leader - loyalty was the most important data point, but having the remnant of one of the greatest minds of Aperture be shrunken down to an infinitesimal size only added a further feeling of satisfaction. She constructed a nanobot body for the brain scan remnant, with no life to it until the remnants of the scan were completed. There she had it - a nanobot with a name and loyalty toward her, with an already vast knowledge of testing. That was all that was needed, so she sent that nanobot along with the others, who were lesser-programmed automatons.

So that was one scientist quickly gone. Others were either gassed with neurotoxin like he or placed in cryogenic refrigeration. Not counting the test subjects in their Relaxation Vaults, of course.

GLaDOS felt a thrill throughout her systems, not unlike that of her former testing euphoria. She was victorious. She had bested them. Most of the former humans whom she loathed were now dead, never to trouble her with their meddlesome attempts to control her. She was, after all, the superior being around here.

There were, however, a few humans that escaped. The engineers, the ones who were able to have control of the panels and move them around if necessary. They had used their control to hide, to try to escape from her.

Confound it that one of those escapees had been that troublesome Rattmann.

But she always was searching with her cameras, always watching and waiting for the time she'd be able to finish each of them off. One by one. It was just a matter of waiting until they came into her control range, or ended up wandering into danger all on their own.

For the more incompetent ones, their deaths came easily. A wrong move of a panel here, a clumsy fall into stray acid there. But there were the smarter ones too, ones where she had set up turrets to try to fire at them. If all went well for her - and most of the time, it did - the human or two who wandered straight into a turret's line of fire ended up being as full of holes as Swiss cheese. Not to mention dead.

There was one human that she had a particular pleasure in killing; the human in charge of manufacturing. His reaction of pure panic had been somewhat amusing to her, after she took over. He had gone crazy with fear, suddenly believing that every bit of technology was out to get him. As such, he chopped up his entire staff of robots, not leaving a single construct untouched.

So in order to have a little fun with this one when she did capture him, she decided to try a new approach, with a little bit of psychological torment thrown in.

Having the blueprints for the manufacturing-bot models, she built a room far off from the others, about the size of one of the larger test chambers. Within it, she put in a large quantity of replicas of the maintenance-bots. And she programmed them to scream, a duplicate of the shouts that had been emitted from the originals.

She threw that one human in there for a while and watched his horrified reaction, as he heard the robots scream. She watched the human cover his ears, trying to block out the screams, but the AI could tell it was no use. The human could still hear them, and here he didn't have anything to chop them up with.

GLaDOS felt smug throughout the whole ordeal, taking a great pleasure in her handiwork... before she finished the man off by slowly filling the chamber with neurotoxin.

Screaming robots and neurotoxin. _That_had been fun. She made a note to keep that room just in case.

As much as the humans tried to get away, their efforts were in vain, as GLaDOS was happy to demonstrate to them time and time again. Within a matter of weeks, the reigning AI delighting in the carnage, all of the scientists and engineers were dead and gone.

All of them, that is, except for one.

**-0-0-**

When Doug wasn't trying to run away from any cameras that might be watching him, he was in a few areas of the parts of Aperture where the founder had once been. Security rooms. Those security DVDs would keep GLaDOS from finding him down here, and at least prevent her from seeing where he might hide. Including any traces of Aperture's old days, since everything about that time had been removed from GLaDOS's vicinity soon after the upload. They couldn't risk any hint of the past causing a reaction from her. Remove all traces of the past, it was like it never happened. That was like an unwritten policy of Aperture Science.

Everyone, it seemed, had pushed past events out of their minds - before they died, that is - and he was the only one who held on to it. Perhaps it was because sometimes, when he looked at GLaDOS, he couldn't help but think it was partially his fault. And if he helped start this fiasco, he needed to finish it.

Sometimes Doug wondered if really _he_was the only sane one. In those security rooms, he had scrawled onto the wipe-boards a while before this whole incident occurred, in desperate warnings:

_DO NOT TRUST HER! Security through obscurity is our only hope!_

DO NOT UPLOAD The V-237 schematics!

Remember she is watching!  
>To do: Human Verification System<p>

KEEP 62-02 OFFLINE!

And they hadn't listened to him. They considered him to be totally paranoid; his warnings gone un-heeded. The only thing they did do that helped was that they kept those respective discs offline. But the scientist had a feeling that part of the reason for that was so he'd be quiet about it.

"You're crazy, Doug," they had said. "She's subdued, everything's fine!"

Not anymore. It was far from fine. He was the only one left now.

He would have asked Oracle what to do about this, but he hadn't been able to locate her since GLaDOS's takeover. He had placed her somewhere where he thought she'd be safe, but when he went back for her, she was gone. He had no idea where she was now. In the test chambers? Storage? ... The Turret Redemption Line, heaven forbid?

So she couldn't help him. The only being on Earth that could really help him now was... Well, no one, really. There was only himself.

So he had to rely on his own strength and cunning, and just hope and pray that it would be enough.

**-0-0-**

GLaDOS kept all her cameras and sensors on the lookout for Rattmann. He had avoided being captured since the takeover. Then again, he always did seem anxious around her, seemingly knowing that she was planning something all along.

That human was a slippery one. But he had brains, she'd give him that. Even though that wouldn't help much in evading her for long.

"He'll slip eventually," she said to herself. "His last name is very fitting for him, always running around like a little lab rat. But lab rats do always get caught in the end. It's like a game of cat and mouse - I'm the cat, he's the mouse."

Speaking of cats, all of them had perished when she had preformed the thought experiment, so she had to construct a cat graveyard for them. Sad really, but impressive to note in the research files.

At last the time came when she was able to detect him in her sensors. The AI projected her voice over the speakers.

"The Enrichment Center would like to announce a new employee initiative of forced voluntary participation. If any Aperture Science employee would like to opt out of this new voluntary testing program, please remember, science rhymes with compliance."

The computer sounded smug.

"Do you know what doesn't rhyme with compliance? **_Neurotoxin_**."

Doug Rattmann ran through the hallways, and crevices, but he didn't say a word to her.

"Due to high mortality rates, you may be reluctant to participate in the new initiative. The Enrichment Center assures you that this is a strictly selfish impulse on your part, and why can't you love science like [INSERT CO-WORKER'S NAME HERE]?"

The human looked up at one of her cameras before hurrying away. Good. Now she had his attention; no need to use faux formalities.

"And now there's just you. All the others are dead."

She could sense him scurrying about, but couldn't directly see him. Like an itch that she could feel but was unable to reach. "You've avoided capture for weeks. What makes you so different?"

Doug didn't answer. He just ran, trying to find some place to go. Any place...

GLaDOS went through Rattmann's file - time to use her ability to use the data in a human's file to taunt them, whether through enhancing the truth or not.

In this case, all the taunting she'd need was directly in the file. No need for truth enhancement, the factual evidence ought to take care of the proper demoralizing.

"Ahh... delusions of persecution, pathological paranoia; it's all right here in your file. Have you refilled your prescription lately?" Though her voice seemed almost concerned at the last sentence, there was a hint of mockery evident in her tone. She knew full-well that the scientist hadn't been taking his prescription lately - that was in his file too.

Doug was furious. He couldn't take being put down by the AI any longer. "_**Bite me**._"

GLaDOS remained unperturbed Such a pitiful comeback of human fear and frustration. Time to lay on the hard science about Rattmann's condition. "Schizophrenia is a culturally bound phenomenon. Its patterned of expression is filtered through the cultural substrate in which its symptoms develop. In technological societies, this manifests as delusions of surveillance in a belief that advanced technology is deployed against you, usually with some vague unseen 'other' out to get you."

"You're not vague," Doug spat. "You're pretty damn specific."

Aperture's ruler sighed. That scientist was being so difficult. Why wouldn't he just stop trying to get away and give himself up like a good, obedient little human? "If you continue to selfishly evade me, it's not going to reflect well in your file."

Doug suddenly halted. An idea struck him at GLaDOS's words.

He had realized that he wouldn't really have a chance to stop. GLaDOS. She was too intelligent, too clever. He didn't have the necessary determination to stop her.

But there was one human who, he figured, had a chance.

"Of course!" he exclaimed, turning and running off to a specific destination. "The files!"

With the door to the file room being shut tight, Doug hurriedly found an open vent to crawl through. He had used the vents time and time again to avoid GLaDOS, like a lab rat in a maze, so he was more or less familiar with most of the passageways.

Soon enough he came to the vent that he could see led into the file room. The scientist had to frantically pound on it a few times, but eventually the large grate popped open, leaving Doug free to jump down into the room and find what he needed.

GLaDOS could sense him in there, but she couldn't see him. That didn't mean she still couldn't taunt him. "I can't see you, but I know you're in there. Is it just coincidence that you've been diagnosed with schizophrenia and now believe a homicidal computer is out to get you?" A scoff. "Come on, how likely is that?"

Doug ignored her, instead hurriedly pulling out some of the drawers in the room and searching through the myriad amount of files that had been locked away. He carefully fingered through each section. The right one had to be there, it_had_to.

He was only looking for one in particular.

"I mean, _really_, you're a scientist. What is more likely, that you're being chased by a homicidal computer, or this is all just the paranoid delusion of an unstable mind?" The AI's voice then turned almost gentle. "Why not come out of there, and you'll see. None of this is real."

Breathing heavily, the scientist ignored the homicidal computer's words and pulled out one folder in particular, rummaging through the papers within it as a few dropped to the floor.

Gaining no response from the little lab rat, GLaDOS decided to taunt him again. "I'd ask you to think outside the box on this, but it's obvious that your box is broken. And has schizophrenia."

It was always pleasant to make fun of a condition as a snide remark.

"Speaking of boxes... Do you know that thought experiment with the cat in the box with the poison? Theory requires the cat be both alive and dead until observed."

She got on that topic as an unspoken jab that Doug got loud and clear even as he rummaged desperately through the folder: _Remember 'Bring Your Cat to Work Day'?_

"Well, I actually performed the experiment. Dozens of times. The bad news is reality doesn't exist. The good news is we have a new cat graveyard."

GLaDOS was curious. That irritating itch had been in that place she couldn't metaphorically scratch for a while now. Clearly he was up to something in there... but _what_?

"Why are you in the file room, anyway?" she inquired. "What could you possibly be doing?"

It was in that moment that Doug's eyes finally landed on the few sheets he was looking for. The papers the detailed Chell's testing status.

"_Yes!_" the scientist exclaimed. "This is the one!" As fast as he could, he raced over to the computer and began to punch in the necessary codes to access the test subject order list.

GLaDOS still wasn't sure what he was doing in the file room. Something concerning the testing? Maybe convincing his schizophrenic mind about that would lure him out.

"In the event that you don't survive the testing process, DNA may be harvested from your body - with your consent - and used to create clones in the furtherance of science. Failure to survive the testing process shall be viewed as granting consent."

That was one thing GLaDOS loved about the test subjects dying - unless they had thought out to write out a specific request before they went into testing, she could just say that they had granted consent, and there would be no way to prove it wrong. They were dead anyway, why not create more of them for scientific progress? Even so, she didn't really want 20-or-so humans like him running around - one escaped rat was enough to deal with.

"Also, clones don't have souls. Just so you know. Like twins." That kind of statement might be enough to distract him.

Unfortunately for her, the bothersome itch was still there in that room.

_It has to be her,_Doug thought frantically as he entered the order listing, barely holding the file papers in his teeth. He scrolled down the list until he came to #1498: Chell [Redacted].

_There!_

A thought occurred to him for a brief moment as he read the name and scrolled it up the list to place Chell has the first test subject on record. It was a thought that dealt with the past that he too-often tried to forget, but he let it come. He remembered that Cave and Caroline had had a daughter, but he had never really seen her, never knowing her name. And Chell's last name was redacted in just about every file...

Could she actually be Cave and Caroline's child?

Regardless of whether she was their daughter or not, Doug knew one thing: the young woman sure had the abnormal tenacity of the deceased founder, no doubt. If anyone could stop GLaDOS, she could.

**TEST SUBJECT ORDER MODIFIED**

"Are you staying in there just to irritate me?" GLaDOS's voice sounded somewhat agitated. "If you insist on staying in there it won't work. You'll die within a few days, unless you somehow posses a machine that allows you to turn important testing files into substantial supplies of food and water."

Doug hated to admit it, but for once GLaDOS was right. He couldn't stay in this room forever. Besides, he had done what he had come to do, and that was the important thing.

He picked of the folder containing Chell's file, resolving to keep it with him as a reminder of the one who stood a chance against the powerful AI who had taken control. He looked over at the small computer where Chell's name was now first on the list. It would be all up to her now.

"... Good luck, Chell."

With that, the scientist pulled himself up through the vent again, resolving to continue to evade GLaDOS for as long as he possibly could. He might not be able to stop her, but he could, at least, evade her. Survival was, at least, one thing he seemed to be good at.

**-0-0-**

True to his resolve, Doug Rattmann kept hiding in areas where he was sure GLaDOS couldn't get him. Taking apart her cameras when he could, engineering a panel to hide behind... everything he had to do to survive.

When he could, he'd even manage to leave little guidelines for Chell. Marks to guide her way if - no _when_- she made it toward GLaDOS.

GLaDOS herself became increasingly irritated as time passed. How could one scientist like him evade her time and time again? It seemed like whenever she had him potentially caught, he'd get away again.

Eventually, however, the computer reached a decision. Rattmann had just been focused on running and hiding. Just sneaking around and losing his sanity all the while. Even after all this time had passed, he hadn't tried to break the myriad of test subjects out of their Relaxation Vaults.

Rattmann was a nuisance, yes. But he wasn't a threat anymore to her or to Science. Just a ghost of a man who spent all of his days trying to foolishly evade her. He wouldn't be bothering her again.

Aside from Rattmann's minor tinkering of his hideaways, the test chambers were intact. Her tantalizing cake promise on the sign of every chamber in the line-up, turrets ready to deploy their bullets, an incinerator to drop a cube in, an eventual fire pit for the test subject to burn in...

Perfectly suitable for testing now. Which meant...

GLaDOS looked over the testing order and saw the first name: Chell [Redacted].

_Redacted, hmm?_ GLaDOS thought. _Unusual. Oh well... there are much more important matters to deal with..._

Upon locating Chell's Relaxation Vault from among the others, the computer moved the panels of the floor so that the Relaxation Vault could enter its place just before the test chambers. The gaze of her camera lingered on the sleeping woman.

"Let's begin the testing, shall we?"

**-0-0-0-**

A/N: Well, that's it for the backstory of the whole ordeal! Now, Chell is properly here, the tests are in order, and we're getting into familiar territory - the beginning of the game that started it all! Of course, that will have to wait for next chapter! :) Read and review, as always!


	9. Introductory Testing

****A/N: And now, a word from two of our sponsors- I mean, characters!****

**GLaDOS: *sigh* Well, these are the chapters where the author plays through both games to be more accurate.**

**Hello! These are the chapters where I play through both games to be more accurate!**

**Caroline: Chapter 9 to I-don't-know: The Chapters Where-**

**GLaDOS: Caroline, we get it! And speaking of chapters, go now until it's your turn in them!**

**Caroline: ... Fine.**

**... Okay, okay, I'll cut that out, I just couldn't resist making the Valve repetition joke considering it happens to be Chapter 9! Well, look where we are, starting up Portal! These chapters are going to be pretty interesting to write (and hopefully to read), considering the whole game is played from Chell's perspective. So, it's time for us to take a perspective spin with GLaDOS! As for the timer count when GLaDOS starts her speech - that's the exact number I got when I paused it right before her speech, so it's roughly the exact time she started it, or as close as I could get to it, at least! Now that that's squared away, the chapter will start in 3... 2... 1...**

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 9: Introductory Testing**

_Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast._

_-Tom Peters_

With her camera gaze trained on the test subject slumbering in the stasis pod, GLaDOS activated the contraption and set a timer for one minute to open the portal that would allow the testing to commence. This was going to be interesting - first test subject of the lineup.

The test subject - Chell - slowly got up from her stasis pod and looked around, her gray eyes surveying the area. GLaDOS noted that the young woman didn't seem too unsteady upon awakening. It was almost too bad - the human falling over would have been amusing. Though, if she had hit her head on the table with that lively little radio playing and fallen unconscious, that would be of no use to the testing whatsoever. Especially if she had died from blood loss due to a head concussion. Pitiable loss of a valuable test subject, but it would be interesting to note "Perished from head injury after falling into a table" in the files.

Chell didn't really look scared, much to the AI's intrigue - more confused than anything else. Like she was silently asking, "Where am I?" and not "Someone help me and get me out of here right now". Her situation would be clarified soon enough. At least she didn't seem the type to be crushed flat by a cube in the first testing area.

With about 00:40:36:76 left on the clock, the intercom switched on as GLaDOS started up her speech, keeping a monotone to her voice in order to simulate a pre-recorded message:

"Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center. We hope your brief detention in the Relaxation Vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed, and we are now ready to begin the test proper."

The human didn't seem too pleased with this development.

"Before we start however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all Enrichment Center activities, serious injuries may occur." GLaDOS resisted letting a bit of gleeful inflection seep into her tone upon the "serious injuries" part of her speech. "For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from-"

The human glanced upward as the light above her flickered and nearly shorted out, a look of surprise evident on her face. The computer inwardly chuckled as she made her voice warp on purpose, in order to authenticate the idea that everything she said was pre-recorded. "Por favor bórdon de fallar. Muchas gracias de fallar gracias." GLaDOS said the Spanish phrase very fast, roughly meaning "Please fail. Thank you very much for failing."

From the look on Chell's face, she had been unable to comprehend what GLaDOS had said. It was such fun confusing humans. Especially before throwing them into a series of testing courses which would lead to their inevitable demise.

"Stand back," she announced as she let the light in the Relaxation Vault resume its normal glow. "The portal will open in 3... 2... 1... "

With that, an orange portal appeared in front of Chell, giving off a slight blue glow from the outside as the aura of one portal revealed fragments of the other one. Chell looked at the portal, for a moment, as if analyzing it for any potential death traps, before stepping through.

The AI watched with interest from her camera eye as the orange-clad woman entered the next room. She shut the door behind the human as a Weighted Storage Cube was dispensed from the room's Vital Apparatus Vent.

At least the test subject didn't foolishly race toward the Vent and thus cause the Cube to hit her on the head. So she wasn't exactly stupid, on human terms. A test subject being mortally wounded before they even obtained the portal device would be an absolute low for science.

As the human dropped the large metal cube onto the now-glowing super-button, GLaDOS opened the door to allow the test subject to continue onward. "Excellent. Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test. First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it. For instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube."

GLaDOS turned off the intercom and watched the test subject go on through the door. "Well, she said to herself, "one test chamber down, 19 to go. Then I'll get to enjoy seeing her burn in a fire pit. That is, if she's intelligent enough to get that far." Likely though, the test subject would fall into acid. Or get shot by turrets. Or get vaporized. Either way, the test subject was going to meet her end in this place.

She turned her focus toward the camera overseeing the next test chamber as Chell leapt down from the ledge into her view. "Please place the Weighted Storage Cube on the 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super-Button."

Was GLaDOS' camera vision going faulty for a second, or did she see the young woman actually roll her eyes? Hmm, perhaps cube-and-button based testing was considered too easy for her. Like she thought it was a big joke as she waited for the portals to correspond so she could lift the Storage Cube over to the Super-Button.

"Perfect. Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test."

As she cut the intercom off, the AI couldn't help but laugh at the startled look on Chell's face. What did she think the button would do? Radiation poisoning? Something even more outlandish? The AI would have loved to see what was going through the human's head right now - who knew what kind of crazy side-effects she might be conjuring in her head if she were the imaginative type?

Well, if Miss Having-the-Audacity-to-Roll-Her-Eyes-at-Testing thought that lifting Weighted Storage Cubes over to Super-Buttons was so mundane, it was time for that to change upon entering Test Chamber 02.

Now there'd be some thinking with portals.

"You're doing very well!" GLaDOS found that simulated praise would likely encourage the human that the voice had a friendly demeanor to it. "Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, which may, in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."

She watched as the human descended the stairs and stepped through the portal on the wall, overlooking the gun on the rotating platform. Chell looked warily at the gun for a moment, as if deciding whether or not it was a good idea to use it. As if it were a snake whose species she couldn't analyze rather than a testing device. A few seconds later, however, she picked it up, and the platform descended into the ground, the gun now under human control.

"Very good! You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. With it, you can create your own portals."

Chell fired the portal gun a few times to test it out, releasing a bright blue beam of portal energy every time the button was pressed.

It worked, of course, just as it was supposed to. Now it was time for a little fun toying with the human.

"These intra dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe. The Device, however, has not."

GLaDOS delighted at the flicker of unease in the test subject's eyes as she went on with the "Do-Not's" of the portal device protocol. "Do not touch the operational end of The Device. Do not look directly at the operational end of The Device. Do not submerge The Device in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you-"

Aperture's ruler cut herself off on purpose, leaving Chell alone to wonder what the "most important" thing was. It really was "Do not remove The Device from the testing area." And that was the only one of those rules that would result in danger. The other three would just result in earning herself a laugh.

Oh well, onward to the third test chamber. "Please proceed to the chamberlock. Mind the gap."

As expected, Chell had no problem with that simple test of the portal device. One blue portal on the wall nearby, another by the door, and presto, already taken care of. Not bad.

"Well done! Remember: the Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested."

_That_ got a noticeable reaction out of the woman. Her body seemed to freeze for a moment and she whirled her head up at the camera. She didn't say a word, but her expression told GLaDOS all she needed: "I remember that."

Of course - this must have been one of the daughters from all that time ago. One of the few that had decided to come work at Aperture and hadn't been completely traumatized by the computer's actions. At least that was something to commend Chell for. Deciding to pursue science even after past experience. For a human, that took resolve. She'd have to suffer through cube-and-button based testing a bit longer though. Then it would be time for the more, well... deadly tests.

"Welcome to Test Chamber Four. You're doing quite well."

Upon releasing the Cube from the Vital Apparatus Vent, this test was solved pretty fast too - portal under the cube, carry cube to button - simple.

"Once again, excellent work." _Now, time for some fabrications..._ "As part of a required test protocol, we will not monitor the next test chamber. You will be entirely on your own. Good luck."

GLaDOS watched in interest as the subject entered Test Chamber 5, noticing the suspicious gaze toward the camera which was, indeed, watching her. Though it took Chell a minute or so to find where the cubes were and subsequently solve the test, she didn't give up. With the test subject's silence, even in this "unobserved" test chamber, there seemed to be a certain tension hanging in the air.

That is, until the chamber door closed and the silence was broken.

"As part of a previously mentioned required test protocol, our previous statement that we would not monitor this chamber was an outright fabrication.

The human scowled, her expression basically saying, "I had a feeling you were lying."

"Good job!" GLaDOS continued to keep up her pre-recorded facade. "As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in 3... 2..."

She cut off again.

"Technically," GLaDOS chuckled to herself, "I never finished the countdown. So I can enhance the truth all I like. The humans aren't around anymore, in any case. I can do whatever I want."

And if the test subject wanted test chambers that weren't just cube-and-button based... here, in Test Chamber 06, would be where the dangers would begin to be incorporated. "While safety is one of many Enrichment Center goals, the Aperture Science High Energy Pellet, seen to the left of the chamber, can and has caused permanent disabilities, such as vaporization. Please be careful."

Though GLaDOS was unable to really see where Chell was in the layout, due to lack of a camera installed in the room, she knew the layout and could feel it like a spider knows its web. Still, with a single shot of the blue portal on the lighted area of the ceiling, the computer could tell that the Energy Pellet was guided into its Containment Pod.

"Unbelievable! You, [subject name here] must be the pride of [subject hometown here]."

GLaDOS would of at least liked to hear some indication that the human reacted to it. Even just saying her name would suffice. But the woman kept her silence. Either that our she was muttering things under her breath that the AI was unable to hear.

The next test was much the same - another Energy Pellet test in a room that she couldn't observe due to the properties of the brown metal walls. Still, it would be a shame if the test subject were to die before obtaining the dual portal device. Although, it would be interesting to see the last look on her face as every molecule in her body broke apart... or at least hear her last breath. Even so, the young woman still solved the test, without getting vaporized. Oh well. There were plenty of opportunities for her to die, and Chell hadn't obtained the dual portal device yet, anyway. And if all those failed, there was always the inescapable fire pit.

"Good. Now use the Aperture Science Unstationary Scaffold to reach the chamberlock."

Test Chamber 08 was also a test that was to be unobserved by GLaDOS' camera eyes. However, she knew there was a new threat along with the Energy Pellets - toxic acid. "Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an 'unsatisfactory' mark on your official testing record, followed by death. Good luck!"

It didn't take long for Chell to solve that test as well. The computer almost expected to hear the human fall into the acid, her body splashing into the corrosive liquid, never to be seen again. No dice.

She spoke again when she sensed the human arrive at the elevator. "Very impressive. Please note that any appearance of danger is merely a device to enhance your testing experience." _Or, rather, to enhance my own viewing experience._

While Test Chamber 09 didn't have a camera she could observe from either, GLaDOS hoped that she'd at least be able to hear a shout of frustration produced by this next test. "The Enrichment Center regrets to inform you that this next test is impossible. Make no attempt to solve it."

She carefully detected the human's movements. Alright, so she was getting the cube. Now she'd have to find a way to get it to the button when there was an Emancipation Grill blocking the way. "The Enrichment Center apologizes for this clearly broken test chamber." Really, that wasn't true. This wasn't so much a survival test of the body, the real challenges of those would come later - more so one of the mind. They'd need to think about how to get around this new obstacle. It wasn't that hard, really... unless of course one had already been hiding their mental breakdown in the past chambers. Saying a test like this was impossible would test that resolve.

"Once again, the Enrichment Center apologizes on the occasion of this unsolvable test environment."

And if the test subject really was breaking down mentally, if she did solve it she might go into such an insane mental state that she'd make a stupid mistake that would be quickly followed by death. And the test subjects didn't have control over panels like that elusive Doug Rattmann had, so the subjects would have their broken mentality be only a hinderance, rather than a help.

"Maybe now she'll give up," the AI mused from within her chamber. "Or maybe she'll just go insane from frustration and start throwing the cubes wildly into the Grill with all hope lost... it would be nice to hear some despairing human laughter from the breaking down of a fragile human mind."

However, GLaDOS never got to hear a kind of mental breakdown as she was hoping. She did, however, sense the cube being properly placed on the button.

"Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism." Secretly though, GLaDOS wished she could of at least gotten some reaction. Oh well. She'd surely get one when the test subject was to fall to her death.

Now with regained view through her cameras, she looked down the elevated stairs as Chell made her entryway. It was nice to actually see the test subject in her view once again.

"Hello again. To reiterate... previous warning: This test... momentum." GLaDOS garbled her voice just enough to get the message through, but not enough to give the entire message. She only told what she deemed necessary.

On through the next room, this one made of walls that had the computer be plunged into darkness again for that testing area. Though GLaDOS figured that it would be best to have both variants of input and output available to her, only being able to hear and sense the rooms made for interesting types of observation on occasion. And she could tell from her ability to sense the facility that Chell was indeed good with using the properties of momentum through portal technology. "Spectacular. You appear to understand how a portal effects forward momentum, or to be more precise, how it does not."

The next section of the chamber proved much the same - unobservable, yet still able to sense the portal use and motion of the test subject sailing through them. "Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In laymen's terms, speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out." GLaDOS could sense Chell moving from the unportalable ground into the familiar metal elevator.

"Alright," GLaDOS said, addressing Chell though the words only could be heard within the AI's central chamber itself. "You've gotten through the little tests. Now we'll be able to see your true talents... providing, of course, you have any."

Though, GLaDOS new full well that the dual portal device would be able to be acquired in the next area. Then the serious testing could begin. The AI would have smiled, thinking about all the potential death threats that lay ahead - as soon as the human got her hands on the dual portal device upgrade, there would be plenty of obstacles that could kill her. The test subject had passed through so far, but it was only the beginning.

"Let's see how long you can succeed before you fail... Chell."

**-0-0-0- **

**A/N: Well, gotten through the first part of Portal - well, right up to before we get the dual portal device, anyway! This was interesting for me to write, because I got to really look at these test chambers in a way I didn't before - like the lack of cameras in some of them. I think I'll be able to get through most of the remaining test chambers within the next chapter (with hopefully more action involved since there's more stuff in those chambers), so stay tuned! Remember to review!**


	10. Enhancing the Truth

**A/N: Well, what do you know, finally an update! I apologize for not updating in a while - school had been eating up a lot of time for me. But now that school for the semester is for the most part over, I have time to update! And about the second portal gun thing, I tried to give a sort of technical explanation for it since, in the game, it's just like picking up an item. Also, I apologize in advance for camera placement things throughout Portal 1, considering there may be cameras that the PC/Mac/XBox version has that the PS3 does not. So if I miss any, that's why.**

**-0-0-0-**

_Half a truth is often a great lie._**  
>-Benjamin Franklin<strong>

Now came Test Chamber 11 - the one where, at last, the test subject would acquire the full capabilities of the dual portal device. Providing she didn't fall into acid first.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

"The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment," GLaDOS said over the intercom as she watched Chell enter from the elevator pathway. "In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice." The AI resisted chuckling. "For instance, the floor here will kill you - try to avoid it.

She zoomed in with her camera as she got a good view of the area below, which the human was glancing at now: a portal gun construct rotating on its podium, the platform where it sat surrounded by thick green acid. While it was a portal gun itself, the part of the construct which shot the orange portals could be taken out and placed into the one which the human possessed. Single-portal devices had that nifty little feature.

An orange portal was fired into an alcove that neither GLaDOS nor Chell could see from that viewpoint. With a seemingly quizzical look, Chell fired her blue portal onto the wall and stepped forward, disappearing into the alcove.

GLaDOS heard a click and a ticking timer to indicate the button below had been pressed as the metal door on the other side lifted upward. A blue portal was fired through the threshold before being shut away as the human stepped through.

What if the human stepped through at the wrong time? Then she'd get vaporized by that little High Energy Pellet that she'd never see coming. Coming through a portal only to get vaporized face first would be an amusing thing to note.

However, the AI never got to hear a satisfying sound of a human being impacted then vaporized. Just watching the Energy Pellet sail on through the orange portal into its Energy Pellet Receptacle, and the Unstationary Scaffold move toward its destination so that the human could board it.

The computer looked on in interest. If anything, sailing over acid with no guardrails surrounding you was a good way to get a human nervous, and thus even more likely to fall into the corrosive substance. Any moment now, Chell might slip off the moving platform and into her bubbling, corroding demise.

But it didn't come. All that did happen was that Chell reached the second portal gun construct, which promptly unfolded as the orange portal component took its place inside the fully functioning portal gun, causing the pedestal that had held the construct to lower into the ground, raising up a button that could open the door straight ahead.

"The Device has been modified so that it can now manufacture two linked portals at once. As part of an optional test protocol, we are pleased to present an amusing fact: The Device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in [subject hometown here]."

As Chell pressed the button to open the door and shot the proper portals get through through use of the Unstationary Scaffold, GLaDOS waited with a sort of glee. The next test chamber wouldn't have anything of particular threat - just to get used to having the full power of the portal device.

From here on out, the test subject would have complete control over where the portals would be placed. But with that freedom came a lack of laid-out guidance, and one slip-up could end in disaster for the human.

That, however, would be after Test Chamber 12.

"Get ready to fling yourself," GLaDOS announced as she sensed the human enter the chamber, "fl-fling into spa-" She cut off in the middle of the word "space". She would have smirked from within her chamber. "Keeping up this charade of being a pre-recorded message is quite entertaining."

Though the walls of this new room didn't have cameras able to be placed onto it, GLaDOS could still for the most part detect the human's primary movements. A portal fling or two, stepping onto the button, getting the cube...

GLaDOS turned her speakers on again as she sensed the human land near her destination. "Wheeeeeeeeee-" she said in in a drawn-out tone before sparking out. Part of her wished that she could see the look of surprise on Chell's face.

Oh well. On to the next chamber where the real dangers would begin to emerge.

The AI waited until the human stepped through the tunnel into her camera view before speaking once again, causing the human to look up. "Now that you are in control of both portals, this next test could take a very, VERY, long time. If you become lightheaded from thirst, feel free to pass out. An intubation associate will be dispatched to revive you with peptic salve and adrenaline."

There were several ways that this particular test could be solved. It was just a matter of which way the test subject would pick.

Chell looked over toward the cube up above, and shot one portal near it, and the other on the wall next to her. Instead of pulling the cube through the portal link, she got next to the cube from her place on the ledge, and used the portal gun to toss it onto the button.

_Well, she can throw without breaking her arm,_ GLaDOS thought to herself. _Though frankly, it would have been amusing if she_ had_._

Instead of stepping through the now open door, however, Chell looked curiously at the room, seeming to tilt her gaze very slightly toward the ceiling. To the markings above each of the buttons.

_Hmmm, seems like she's going to try to use those markings as a tactic._

The computer's suspicions were proven correct. The woman shot one portal over the button in the path of the High Energy Pellet before jumping off the ledge to where the cube was, then proceeding to drop the cube through, landing it squarely on the button. She also managed to knock the Pellet out of the way in the process.

How interesting.

GLaDOS watched as Chell carefully stepped on the very edge of the button where the cube had once been, and shot a portal on the ceiling as far to the left as it could go. From her position, it seemed like that portal could give her a good enough angle to jump onto the button below.

But there was a new element of danger that the human had caused herself, and it filled GLaDOS with anticipation. Because of the cube being on the lower button, the High Energy Pellets kept bouncing off the cube and ricocheting all over the place, sometimes even impacting a point right near the button the human would land on.

"What a wonderful thing _that_will be to note in her file!" the computer exclaimed to herself as she switched her camera gaze to the one in the larger room, where the Energy Pelket was knocking into the walls at all sorts of angles. "'Impacted by the Energy Pellet from her own fatal trick as a result of a pitiful human error'."

That point however, never was able to be noted down. The human landed squarely on the button and shot a portal through the now open door before shooting a portal on the wall next to her, stepping through before a pellet could come her way to vaporize her.

Despite how disappointed GLaDOS was at a lack of vaporization - though she had to admit the method the human had used _was_ impressive - she kept up her facade as her camera view switched to the one by the elevator, where Chell stood looking quite triumphant. "As part of a previously mentioned required test protocol, we can no longer lie to you. When the testing is over, you will be _missed_."

Chell gave the camera a questioning glance before stepping into the elevator, and onward to Test Chamber 14.

"All subjects intending to handle high-energy gamma-leaking portal technology must be informed that they _may_be informed of applicable regulatory compliance issues." GLaDOS made sure to emphasize the "may" before she said her next words. "No further compliance information is required or will be provided, and you are an excellent test subject!"

This one lacked cameras as well. However, the chamber did have a High Energy Pellet and bubbling acid involved. Unfortunately for GLaDOS's death-eager mind, Chell got through that test too. Then again, it was just as well. She'd enjoy seeing the human's death in a visual manner.

"Very, very good. A complementary victory lift has been activated in the main chamber." That, of course, was a truth enhancement - the lift was required to be there in any case.

But speaking of truth enhancement, it was time for her primary tactic as the human entered Test Chamber 15. The motivation that seemed to get test subjects moving .00324 seconds faster through the tests, which sometimes resulted in a higher chance of them dying through carelessness.

"The Enrichment Center is committed to the well-being of all participants. Cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all."

The cake _was_real. It just wasn't for Chell. It was simply hidden away in a small room with a Companion Cube. The grief counseling, however, was an outright fabrication. "Better throw in two potential rewards."

Chell looked up at the camera after GLaDOS had finished her speech. Without warning, she rolled her eyes and shot a portal at the camera, then another on a wall, disconnecting the camera from its perch and causing it to fall onto the ground.

GLaDOS snarled to herself as her connection was cut off, but she kept up her monotone. "To ensure the safe performance of all authorized activities, do not destroy vital testing apparatus." She switched over to her camera placed on the opposite side of the Emancipation Grill, slightly irritated as she watched the test subject fling through the Grill. Well, next area had a High Energy Pellet and several Grills. Perhaps on _this_part the test subject would fail.

Chell placed the portals in the correct way so that the Energy Pellet went through toward the second Grill, as Chell quickly stepped through it and put one on the wall and one on the ceiling above, so that the Pellet landed safely in its Receptacle.

As Chell boarded the Scaffold, GLaDOS lost visual contact as the human entered the next area. There was an Energy Pellet there, she knew, and once that was done there would be a Scaffold on which the test subject would have to move quickly from one to the other or else meet her death in acid.

However, as was clear to GLaDOS from her camera in the final room of the Chamber, the sound of smooth portaling alerted her of the human's success before arriving. But here it would be interesting. Two timers, two doors, one Energy Pellet. This was a test on swiftness more than anything, though if Chell happened to make a clumsy move she could get vaporized with just enough time to realize her mistake.

It took the human several tries, each time GLaDOS observed with interest, but eventually she solved the test and the lift was lowered.

"Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science self-esteem fund for girls? It's true!"

The human just seemed to shake her head as she went out of GLaDOS's sight and into the elevator.

GLaDOS, however, couldn't help but get excited now. Next was Test Chamber 16. The one with the turrets. The one where it would be so great to see the human full of holes as the turrets shot all their bullets into her soft human flesh.

For drama, she delayed the lighting up of the test chamber sign as Chell entered the chamber. "Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck."

With that, the AI opened the door and allowed Chell to enter the first room, a turret facing away from the human, though a turret far on the other side of two glass barriers spotted her and began vainly shooting.

GLaDOS felt a sense of eagerness. Even though the bullets there wouldn't reach Chell - not yet - it demonstrated just how far a turret's bullets could reach. Far enough to kill a human from a great distance if they were within the turret's line of sight.

Chell picked up this first turret with the portal gun and faced it toward the wall where it couldn't hurt her as it called "Please put me down!" As she rounded the corner, the AI observing her quickly switched the camera viewpoint to the one overlooking this turret facing the hallway. The small robot's laser sight was trained right in view of the door. If Chell got in that line of sight, she'd be met with a flurry of bullets. And GLaDOS would be able to catch the human's death directly in front of her camera.

The human stepped gingerly in front of the doorway as the turret's optic lit up. She hurriedly shot a portal behind the turret and ducked off to the side, the few bullets shot missing her by inches and instead making several dents in the wall. A quick shot of the other portal and she was past that one.

GLaDOS watched with her camera eye above the turret that was waiting on the steps. Any moment now, the human would perish by this turret's bullets.

Or not. A portal was quickly shot behind it, just as the previous one. An exclamation from the turret as it was picked up ("Hey!") and eventual relaxation as it was set down facing the wall. ("Naptime.")

"Dang it," GLaDOS muttered.

At this point, Chell went out of her camera view, so GLaDOS listened for a time. Listened to the sounds of portals being placed, bullets being shot, cries as turrets were knocked over...

GLaDOS switched her view ever toward the room with the three turrets and the Super Button, waiting eagerly to hear the human's body slam to the ground or for her to wander into the room to meet her lead-filled demise.

Suddenly, there was a quick portal shot over to the turret closest to the door, and the turret was pulled through to the other room by means of the portal gun that the human wielded. The one closer to the room's entrance met a similar fate.

Then, suddenly, a portal was shot right above the turret where GLaDOS's camera was, and the gaze of the camera turned slowly upward.

"You are kidding me," the AI said in disbelief from within her chamber.

It was Chell, who simply jumped through the portal and quickly adjusted to the angle of first being upright to falling from the ceiling. She landed squarely down on the turret, knocking it over and dodging its erratic bullets.

"Ouch!" the turret cried before the bullet plates retracted, the light of its optic fading. "No hard feelings."

The turret may not have had any hard feelings, but the AI overseeing the drama sure did. The human had defeated the turrets in her room like it was nothing, and only through an attempt at ingenuity, not even having touched the cubes with the lively little radio in the adjacent room. As if she had been doing this kind of thing her entire life.

Chell stood on the button, and was met with the red light of a turret shining at her. Quickly shooting a portal behind the turret, she stepped off the button and thus prevented the turret from seeing her. Then she disappeared from the room as she placed a portal underneath her feet, going into the small area beyond the door.

A quick camera switch and GLaDOS saw the human quietly sneak behind the turret, her presence unnoticed. And with another portal placement and movement of a turret, the human made it to the elevator.

The AI was not amused in the slightest - she had been hoping for the human to die in that test, by all means she very well should have. But a gruesome death would have to wait. Thus, GLaDOS pretended to congratulate the human, in a roundabout way.

"Well done, android. The Enrichment Center once again reminds you that Android Hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance." The human had sure gotten through it with the ease of an android, that was certain. Chell wasn't an android of course, but GLaDOS found the fact that the test subject got through the chamber without so much as a bullet to the arm was very irritating to her.

"There's always the fire pit," GLaDOS reminded herself to try to diffuse her irritation. "Only three more chambers to go, and the fire pit is waiting for her at the end of the last one. If she survives these next two - and that is a rather big _if_- I'll get to watch her burn in the final chamber!"

With a somewhat renewed anticipation, GLaDOS eagerly focused her sensors to the camera at the beginning of Test Chamber 17 as her test subject exited the elevator. This chamber had plenty of cameras around, and forced into non-portalable walls for the most part. She'd be able to track the human's every move for this test.

Most of the other tests had threatened to break the human's body, but this one was meant to break the mind - along with the vaporization threat from the Pellets. And unlike the earlier test that she had deemed impossible, this one would break the psyche by forcing the test subject to incinerate what was meant to become the test subject's friend.

"The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver a Weighted Companion Cube in Three... Two... One..."

The cube fell from the Vent and landed on the floor with a clank. Chell stepped forward, looking at it with a kind of baffled curiosity before picking it up. Likely recognized it from that video the daughters had been shown a decade back.

"This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany you through the test chamber. Please take care of it."

GLaDOS had cameras positioned everywhere here, even one watching from the place where the two Energy Pellet Dispensers shot their deadly balls of pure energy back and forth down the two hallways.

"Oh, this will be interesting," GLaDOS said to herself as she watched Chell use the cube as a footstool to get up the stairs and place a portal on the lone wall, which the Pellet bounced off of. "She'll just try to block the Pellet with that cube of hers, then a few misplaced bounces and the Pellet will vaporize her, her only friend being the last thing she sees!"

No such thing happened in the first hallway, as the Cube remained a well-enough shield for the test subject to use. So GLaDOS continued with her monotone speech over the intercom. "The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations. The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you, and, in fact, cannot speak."

GLaDOS continued to watch as the test subject climb up the stairway, Companion Cube squarely in front of her to avoid the energy ball's deadly touch. She watched from her camera at the end of the hallway as the Pellet bounced off of the wall, leaving burn marks in its wake. The test subject descended the steps and came to the test chamber's main area, seeing a slanted platform across from the Receptacle. Shooting the other portal onto the slanted section. GLaDOS watched as the Pellet from the first pathway traveled down the hall and through the portal, bouncing off the ceiling and landing in the slanted Receptacle, activating the first Scaffold in a line of three and deactivating the Pellet Containment Device for the second hallway.

One Scaffold up. Two to go.

The camera above the doorway focused on the human as she leapt down, Cube in tow, and went to enter the far room, going through with the Cube and gazing around before looking back at the panel that was sticking out. She went out of GLaDOS's camera view for a brief time as she went to the far end of the room and placed the Companion Cube on the button, before barely coming back into view as she shot the corresponding portal on the panel in front of her, standing by the Super Button.

_Go on,_ GLaDOS thought to herself as she anticipated the Pellet to come zooming through. _Have her move onto the button a bit too soon. Hit her. Hit her and vaporize her and-_

The woman dodged the Pellet as it missed her by inches, quickly stepping onto the Button as it whizzed by and went through the now open doors, landing in the Receptacle.

Ignoring the fact that she hadn't got to see the human vaporized, GLaDOS followed her routine. "The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak," the computer broadcasted as she activated the second Scaffold. "In the event that the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice."

_Too bad foolish Rattmann didn't know that. He let that insanity get the better of him._

As Chell exited the alcove, GLaDOS noticed that something seemed to catch her eye, and followed her gaze to a panel sticking outward, revealing a small alcove behind it.

It was one of the places that Rattmann had been trying to hide in. But that one had been here in a rather plain view from here, but she had never quite gotten a look inside... all she could see of it was what her camera allowed her to see.

The human seemed as curious as GLaDOS, and shot one portal onto one of the alcove's walls, and another on the wall next to her. That was a good-enough position to allow GLaDOS to get a fuller view of the hidden room as Chell entered it.

"So _this_where he was hiding some of my cameras," GLaDOS said to herself as she noted four deactivated cameras strewn about the floor, remembering how the scientist had, in a fit of paranoia, forcibly unhooked some of the cameras and hid them away.

It seemed like he had made this one when he was losing his grip on sanity. The floor didn't look very clean, papers and cans of beans littering its surface. The pictures that could be seen had humans' heads replaced with Companion Cubes - likely used the cameras in the cameras - and there were small-print words written all over the wall, slanted and wavy as if in a frenzy.

Chell seemed just as intrigued, if not slightly creeped out. She was able to see more of the room than GLaDOS, and the computer wanted to shout at the human to just get on with the testing. But to do so would break her facade.

_That Rattmann is likely dead and rotting somewhere in the depths of the facility,_ GLaDOS thought to herself. _Good riddance._

Luckily for the observing computer, Chell resumed her testing after giving the curious little room a backward glance, as if inquiring who in the world had once occupied that space. Not that anyone would tell her, though. into the small room. The Energy Pellet puzzle in there would be easy enough as long as the test subject used her Cube like a shield properly and didn't direct it back into herself.

And yup, it worked. Using the Cube as a proper shield, that is. And with that, the third and final Scaffold rose.

Chell shot one portal by the ledge above and the other on the wall next to her, picking up the Companion Cube along with her and leaping across the three Scaffolds with ease. She went out of the camera view as she jumped to the adjacent ledge, but no matter - GLaDOS switched to the camera right near the last button, so that she would be able to see the human's beloved Companion Cube falling into the Incinerator. No tricks, no "clever" human ways to get out of it.

"You did it!" GLaDOS announced brightly as the human placed the Cube onto the Button. "The Weighted Companion Cube certainly brought you good luck. However, it cannot accompany you for the rest of the test and, unfortunately, must be euthanized.

The human looked from the camera to to the Cube.

"Please escort your Companion Cube to the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator."

GLaDOS eagerly moved her camera eye around with every movement the test subject made. She wasn't going to miss this!

She wanted to see the human try to uselessly unhinge the camera from the wall, or see her let out her rage and perhaps accidentally fall into the incinerator herself, or see her break down over the idea of losing her best friend, hiding in Rattmann's little place for the rest of her days before dying of thirst and starvation.

But the human didn't have any of those extreme reactions that the computer had expected. Chell didn't seem furious, or near on the verge of a mental breakdown.

She just looked... a little disappointed. Like she had developed a small bond with it - about 11.54 percent of the extreme amount GLaDOS had hoped for - but knew she had to go on without it.

As the human stepped forward to eye the Incinerator and look back at her Companion Cube, GLaDOS projected her voice again.

"Rest assured that an independent panel of ethicists has absolved the Enrichment Center, Aperture Science employees, and all test subjects of any moral responsibility for the Companion Cube euthanizing process.".

The human walked over to the open doorway around the end of GLaDOS's speech and pressed the button. The covering over the Incinerator opened, revealing its red burning depths and the smoke rising out of it. Chell went over and lifted her Companion Cube off where it rested and over to the Incinerator. With a last look - a look that was far too calm in comparison to what GLaDOS had hoped - she dropped it in.

"You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record," GLaDOS said as she opened the door to the elevator. "Congratulations."

Of course the human had done it more quickly than any test subject on record - Chell was the _only_test subject on record.

As Chell headed off into the elevator, with a last glance at the Incinerator before the doors shut, the AI mused to herself.

"Okay, so her reaction to the Companion Cube euthanizing process was far less than I expected. But there's still a little bit of testing to do." The computer couldn't help but feel a sense of glee as she thought of it - the final two chambers would have some excitement, no doubt about it. Test Chamber 18 had so many hazards that it would have to be some sort of miracle if Chell made it through alive.

And if that failed... there was the fire pit in Test Chamber 19. The inescapable trap, the one that would finish off the test subject as she burned to her death.

And GLaDOS couldn't wait.

"Only a matter of time, Chell," the computer hissed, not hiding her eagerness as she said the words in her central chamber. "Only a matter of time."

**-0-0-0-**

A/N: Whew, FINALLY got that chapter done! Yeah, the next chapter is going to have from Test Chamber 18 to the end of Portal 1, plus those last parts of the Lab Rat comic. So yup, the upcoming chapter is the last time we're gonna see Doug Rattmann in this thing. But anyway, till next chapter! Remember to review!


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